NVIDIA Accelerated Linux Driver Set README and Installation Guide

    NVIDIA Corporation
    Last Updated: 2005/11/10
    Most Recent Driver Version: 1.0-8178
______________________________________________________________________________

Preface
______________________________________________________________________________

The NVIDIA Accelerated Linux Driver Set brings accelerated 2D functionality
and high-performance OpenGL support to Linux x86 with the use of NVIDIA
graphics processing units (GPUs).

These drivers provide optimized hardware acceleration for OpenGL and X
applications and support nearly all recent NVIDIA graphics chips (please see
Appendix A for a complete list of supported chips). TwinView, TV-Out and flat
panel displays are also supported.

This README describes how to install, configure, and use the NVIDIA
Accelerated Linux Driver Set. Answers to frequently asked questions and
problem diagnoses for common issues are also provided. These pages are posted
on NVIDIA's web site (http://www.nvidia.com), and are installed in
'/usr/share/doc/NVIDIA_GLX-1.0/'.

______________________________________________________________________________

Introduction
______________________________________________________________________________

This document provides instructions for the installation and use of the NVIDIA
Accelerated Linux Driver Set. Chapter 1, Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 walk the user
through the process of downloading, installing and configuring the driver.
Chapter 4 addresses frequently asked questions about the installation process,
and Chapter 5 provides solutions to common problems.

In case additional information is required, Chapter 6 provides contact
information for NVIDIA Linux driver resources, and Chapter 7 provides a brief
listing of external resources.

It is assumed that the user has at least a basic understanding of Linux
techniques and terminology. However, Chapter 8 provides details on parts of
the installation process that new users may find helpful.

Additional information is presented in several Appendices. These include
supported hardware and system requirements, comprehensive lists of options for
various utilities associated with the driver, setup details for specific
configurations, and advanced topics and features.

CONTENTS:

    Preface
    Introduction
    I. Installation Instructions
        1. Selecting and Downloading the NVIDIA Packages for Your System
        2. Installing the NVIDIA Driver
        3. Configuring X for the NVIDIA Driver
    II. Additional Information
        4. Frequently Asked Questions
        5. Common Problems
        6. NVIDIA Contact Info
        7. Additional Resources
        8. Tips for New Linux Users
        9. Acknowledgements
    III. Appendices
        A. Supported NVIDIA Graphics Chips
        B. Minimum Software Requirements
        C. Installed Components
        D. X Config Options
        E. OpenGL Environment Variable Settings
        F. Configuring AGP
        G. Configuring TwinView
        H. Configuring TV-Out
        I. Configuring a Laptop
        J. Programming Modes
        K. Flipping and UBB
        L. Known Issues
        M. Proc Interface
        N. XvMC Support
        O. GLX Support
        P. Configuring Multiple X Screens on One Card
        Q. Power Management Support
        R. Display Device Names
        S. The X Composite Extension
        T. The nvidia-settings Utility
        U. The XRandR Extension
        V. Support for GLX in Xinerama
        W. SLI FrameRendering
        X. Framelock and Genlock
        Y. Dots Per Inch

______________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 1. Selecting and Downloading the NVIDIA Packages for Your System
______________________________________________________________________________

NVIDIA drivers can be downloaded from the NVIDIA website
(http://www.nvidia.com).

The NVIDIA driver follows a Unified Architecture Model in which a single
driver set is used for all supported NVIDIA graphics chips (please see
Appendix A for a list of supported chips). The burden of selecting the correct
driver is removed from the user, and the driver set is downloaded as a single
file named

     'NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-8178-pkg1.run'

The package suffix ('-pkg#') is used to distinguish between packages
containing the same driver, but with different precompiled kernel interfaces.
The file with the highest package number is suitable for most installations.

Support for "legacy" GPUs has been removed from the unified driver. These
legacy GPUs will continue to be maintained through special legacy GPU driver
releases. Please see Appendix A for a list of legacy GPUs.

The downloaded file is a self-extracting installer, and you may place it
anywhere on your system.

______________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 2. Installing the NVIDIA Driver
______________________________________________________________________________

This chapter provides instructions for installing the NVIDIA driver. Note that
after installation, but prior to using the driver, you must complete the steps
described in Chapter 3. Additional details that may be helpful for the new
Linux user are provided in Chapter 8.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

Prior to beginning the installation, you should exit the X server and kill all
OpenGL applications (note that it is possible that some OpenGL applications
persist even after the X server has stopped). You should also set the default
run level on your system such that it will boot to a VGA console, and not
directly to X. Doing so will make it easier to recover if there is a problem
during the installation process. Please see Chapter 8 for details.

STARTING THE INSTALLER

After you have downloaded the file 'NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-8178-pkg#.run',
change to the directory containing the downloaded file, and as the 'root' user
run the executable:

    # cd yourdirectory
    # sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-8178-pkg#.run

The '.run' file is a self-extracting archive. When executed, it extracts the
contents of the archive and runs the contained 'nvidia-installer' utility,
which provides an interactive interface to walk you through the installation.

 'nvidia-installer' will also install itself to '/usr/bin/nvidia-installer',
which may be used at some later time to uninstall drivers, auto-download
updated drivers, etc. The use of this utility is detailed later in this
chapter.

You may also supply command line options to the '.run' file. Some of the more
common options are listed below.

Common '.run' Options

--info

    Print embedded info about the '.run' file and exit.

--check

    Check integrity of the archive and exit.

--extract-only

    Extract the contents of './NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-8178.run', but do not run
    'nvidia-installer'.

--help

    Print usage information for the common commandline options and exit.

--advanced-options

    Print usage information for common command line options as well as the
    advanced options, and then exit.


INSTALLING THE KERNEL INTERFACE

The NVIDIA kernel module has a kernel interface layer that must be compiled
specifically for each kernel. NVIDIA distributes the source code to this
kernel interface layer, as well as precompiled versions for many of the
kernels provided by popular Linux distributions.

When the installer is run, it will determine if it has a precompiled kernel
interface for the kernel you are running. If it does not have one, it will
check if there is one on the NVIDIA FTP site (assuming you have an Internet
connection), and download it. If one cannot be downloaded, either because the
FTP site cannot be reached or because one is not provided, the installer will
check your system for the required kernel sources and compile the interface
for you. You must have the source code for your kernel installed for
compilation to work. On most systems, this means that you will need to locate
and install the correct kernel-source or kernel-headers package; on some newer
distributions, no additional packages are required (e.g. Fedora Core 3, Red
Hat Enterprise Linux 4).

Note that linking of the kernel interface (in the case that the interface was
downloaded or compiled at installation) requires you to have a linker
installed on your system. The linker, usually '/usr/bin/ld', is part of the
binutils package. If a precompiled kernel interface is not found, you must
install a linker prior to installing the NVIDIA driver.

FEATURES OF THE INSTALLER

Without options, the '.run' file executes the installer after unpacking it.
The installer can be run as a separate step in the process, or can be run at a
later time to get updates, etc. Some of the more important commandline options
of 'nvidia-installer' are:

'nvidia-installer' options

--uninstall

    During installation, the installer will make backups of any conflicting
    files and record the installation of new files. The uninstall option
    undoes an install, restoring the system to its pre-install state.

--latest

    Connect to NVIDIA's FTP site, and report the latest driver version and the
    url to the latest driver file.

--update

    Connect to NVIDIA's FTP site, download the most recent driver file, and
    install it.

--ui=none

    The installer uses an ncurses-based user interface if it is able to locate
    the correct ncurses library. Otherwise, it will fall back to a simple
    commandline user interface. This option disables the use of the ncurses
    library.

Note that, as suggested by the options, the installer has the ability to
download updated precompiled kernel interfaces from the NVIDIA FTP site (for
kernels that were released after the NVIDIA driver release).

______________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 3. Configuring X for the NVIDIA Driver
______________________________________________________________________________

The X configuration file provides a means to configure the X server. This
section describes the settings necessary to enable the NVIDIA driver. A
comprehensive list of parameters is provided in Appendix D.

The NVIDIA Driver includes a utility called nvidia-xconfig, which is designed
to make editing the X configuration file easy. You can also edit it by hand.

USING NVIDIA-XCONFIG TO CONFIGURE THE X SERVER

nvidia-xconfig will find the X configuration file and modify it to use the
NVIDIA X driver. In most cases, you can simply answer "Yes" when the installer
asks if it should run it. If you need to reconfigure your X server later, you
can run nvidia-xconfig again from a terminal. nvidia-xconfig will make a
backup copy of your configuration file before modifying it.

Note that the X server must be restarted for any changes to its configuration
file to take effect.

More information about nvidia-xconfig can be found in the nvidia-xconfig
manual page by running.

    % man nvidia-xconfig



EDITING THE CONFIGURATION FILE BY HAND

In April 2004 the X.org Foundation released an X server based on the XFree86
server. While your release may use the X.org X server, rather than XFree86,
the differences between the two should have no impact on NVIDIA Linux users
with two exceptions:

   o The X.org configuration file is '/etc/X11/xorg.conf' while the XFree86
     configuration file is '/etc/X11/XF86Config'. The files use the same
     syntax. This document refers to both files as "the X config file".

   o The X.org log file is '/var/log/Xorg.#.log' while the XFree86 log file is
     '/var/log/XFree86.#.log' (where '#' is the server number -- usually 0).
     The format of the log files is nearly identical. This document refers to
     both files as "the X log file".

In order for any changes to be read into the X server, you must edit the file
used by the server. While it is not unreasonable to simply edit both files, it
is easy to determine the correct file by searching for the line

    (==) Using config file:

in the X log file. This line indicates the name of the X config file in use.

If you do not have a working X config file, there are a few different ways to
obtain one. A sample config file is included both with the XFree86
distribution and with the NVIDIA driver package (at
'/usr/share/doc/NVIDIA_GLX-1.0/'). Tools for generating a config file (such as
'xf86config') are generally included with Linux. Additional information on the
X config syntax can be found in the XF86Config manual page (`man XF86Config`
or `man xorg.conf`).

If you have a working X config file for a different driver (such as the "nv"
or "vesa" driver), then simply edit the file as follows.

Remove the line:

      Driver "nv"
  (or Driver "vesa")
  (or Driver "fbdev")

and replace it with the line:

    Driver "nvidia"

Remove the following lines:

    Load "dri"
    Load "GLCore"

In the "Module" section of the file, add the line (if it does not already
exist):

    Load "glx"

There are numerous options that may be added to the X config file to tune the
NVIDIA X driver. Please see Appendix D for a complete list of these options.

Once you have completed these edits to the X config file, you may restart X
and begin using the accelerated OpenGL libraries. After restarting X, any
OpenGL application should automatically use the new NVIDIA libraries. If you
encounter any problems, please see Chapter 5 for common problem diagnoses.

______________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 4. Frequently Asked Questions
______________________________________________________________________________

This section provides answers to frequently asked questions associated with
the NVIDIA Linux x86 Driver and its installation. Common problem diagnoses can
be found in Chapter 5 and tips for new users can be found in Chapter 8. Also,
detailed information for specific setups is provided in the Appendices.


NVIDIA-INSTALLER

Q. How do I extract the contents of the '.run' without actually installing the
   driver?

A. Run the installer as follows:
   
       # sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-8178-pkg1.run --extract-only
   
   This will create the directory NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-8178-pkg1, containing
   the uncompressed contents of the '.run' file.


Q. How can I see the source code to the kernel interface layer?

A. The source files to the kernel interface layer are in the usr/src/nv
   directory of the extracted .run file. To get to these sources, run:
   
       # sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-6629-pkg1.run --extract-only
       # cd NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-6629-pkg1/usr/src/nv/
   
   

Q. How and when are the the NVIDIA device files created?

A. Depending on the target system's configuration, the NVIDIA device files
   used to be created in one of three different ways:
   
      o at installation time, using mknod
   
      o at module load time, via devfs (Linux device file system)
   
      o at module load time, via hotplug/udev
   
   With current NVIDIA driver releases, device files are created or modified
   by the X driver when the X server is started.

   By default, the NVIDIA driver will attempt to create device files with the
   following attributes:
   
         UID:  0     - 'root'
         GID:  0     - 'root'
         Mode: 0666  - 'rw-rw-rw-'
   
   Existing device files are changed if their attributes don't match these
   defaults. If you want the NVIDIA driver to create the device files with
   different attributes, you can specify them with the "NVreg_DeviceFileUID"
   (user), "NVreg_DeviceFileGID" (group) and "NVreg_DeviceFileMode" NVIDIA
   Linux kernel module parameters.

   For example, the NVIDIA driver can be instructed to create device files
   with UID=0 (root), GID=44 (video) and Mode=0660 by passing the following
   module parameters to the NVIDIA Linux kernel module:
   
         NVreg_DeviceFileUID=0 
         NVreg_DeviceFileGID=44 
         NVreg_DeviceFileMode=0660
   
   The "NVreg_ModifyDeviceFiles" NVIDIA kernel module parameter will disable
   dynamic device file management, if set to 0.


Q. I just upgraded my kernel, and now the NVIDIA kernel module will not load.
   What is wrong?

A. The kernel interface layer of the NVIDIA kernel module must be compiled
   specifically for the configuration and version of your kernel. If you
   upgrade your kernel, then the simplest solution is to reinstall the driver.

   ADVANCED: You can install the NVIDIA kernel module for a non running kernel
   (for example: in the situation where you just built and installed a new
   kernel, but have not rebooted yet) with a command line such as this:
   
       # sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-8178-pkg1.run --kernel-name='KERNEL_NAME'
   
   
   Where 'KERNEL_NAME' is what 'uname -r' would report if the target kernel
   were running.


Q. Why does NVIDIA not provide RPMs anymore?

A. Not every Linux distribution uses RPM, and NVIDIA wanted a single solution
   that would work across all Linux distributions. As indicated in the NVIDIA
   Software License, Linux distributions are welcome to repackage and
   redistribute the NVIDIA Linux driver in whatever package format they wish.


Q. nvidia-installer does not work on my computer. How can I install the driver
   contained within the .run file?

A. To install the NVIDIA driver contained within the .run file without using
   nvidia-installer, you can use the included Makefile:
   
       # sh ./NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-8178-pkg1.run --extract-only
       # cd NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-8178-pkg1
       # make install
   
   This method of installation is not recommended, and is only provided as a
   last resort, should nvidia-installer not work correctly on your system.


Q. Can the nvidia-installer use a proxy server?

A. Yes, because the FTP support in nvidia-installer is based on snarf, it will
   honor the 'FTP_PROXY', 'SNARF_PROXY', and 'PROXY' environment variables.


Q. What is the significance of the 'pkg#' suffix on the '.run' file?

A. The 'pkg#' suffix is used to distinguish between '.run' files containing
   the same driver, but different sets of precompiled kernel interfaces. If a
   distribution releases a new kernel after an NVIDIA driver is released, the
   current NVIDIA driver can be repackaged to include a precompiled kernel
   interface for that newer kernel (in addition to all the precompiled kernel
   interfaces that were included in the previous package of the driver).

    '.run' files with the same version number, but different pkg numbers, only
   differ in what precompiled kernel interfaces are included. Additionally,
   '.run' files with higher pkg numbers will contain everything the '.run'
   files with lower pkg numbers contain.


Q. I have already installed NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-8178-pkg1.run, but I see that
   NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-8178-pkg2.run was just posted on the NVIDIA Linux
   driver download page. Should I download and install
   NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-8178-pkg2.run?

A. This is not necessary. The driver contained within all 1.0-8178 '.run'
   files will be identical. There is no need to reinstall.


Q. Can I add my own precompiled kernel interfaces to a '.run' file?

A. Yes, the --add-this-kernel  '.run' file option will unpack the '.run' file,
   build a precompiled kernel interface for the currently running kernel, and
   repackage the '.run' file, appending '-custom' to the filename. This may be
   useful, for example. if you administer multiple Linux machines, each
   running the same kernel.


Q. Where can I find the source code for the 'nvidia-installer' utility?

A. The 'nvidia-installer' utility is released under the GPL. The latest source
   code for it is available at:
   ftp://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/nvidia-installer



NVIDIA DRIVER

Q. Where should I start when diagnosing display problems?

A. One of the most useful tools for diagnosing problems is the X log file in
   '/var/log'. Lines that begin with "(II)" are information, "(WW)" are
   warnings, and "(EE)" are errors. You should make sure that the correct
   config file (i.e. the config file you are editing) is being used; look for
   the line that begins with:
   
       (==) Using config file:
   
   Also make sure that the NVIDIA driver is being used, rather than the "nv"
   or "vesa" driver. Search for
   
       (II) LoadModule: "nvidia"
   
   Lines from the driver should begin with:
   
       (II) NVIDIA(0)
   
   

Q. How can I increase the amount of data printed in the X log file?

A. By default, the NVIDIA X driver prints relatively few messages to stderr
   and the X log file. If you need to troubleshoot, then it may be helpful to
   enable more verbose output by using the X command line options -verbose and
   -logverbose, which can be used to set the verbosity level for the 'stderr'
   and log file messages, respectively. The NVIDIA X driver will output more
   messages when the verbosity level is at or above 5 (X defaults to verbosity
   level 1 for 'stderr' and level 3 for the log file). So, to enable verbose
   messaging from the NVIDIA X driver to both the log file and 'stderr', you
   could start X by doing the following
   
       % startx -- -verbose 5 -logverbose 5
   
   

Q. Where can I get 'gl.h' or 'glx.h' so I can compile OpenGL programs?

A. Most systems come with these header files preinstalled. However, NVIDIA
   provides its own 'gl.h' and 'glx.h' files, which get installed by default
   as part of driver installation. If you prefer that the NVIDIA-distributed
   OpenGL header files not be installed, you can pass the --no-opengl-headers
   option to the 'NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-8178-pkg1.run' file during
   installation.


Q. Can I receive email notification of new NVIDIA Accelerated Linux Driver Set
   releases?

A. Yes. Fill out the form at: http://www.nvidia.com/view.asp?FO=driver_update


Q. What is NVIDIA's policy towards development series Linux kernels?

A. NVIDIA does not officially support development series kernels. However, all
   the kernel module source code that interfaces with the Linux kernel is
   available in the 'usr/src/nv/' directory of the '.run' file. NVIDIA
   encourages members of the Linux community to develop patches to these
   source files to support development series kernels. A web search will most
   likely yield several community supported patches.


Q. Why does X use so much memory?

A. When measuring any application's memory usage, you must be careful to
   distinguish between physical system RAM used and virtual mappings of shared
   resources. For example, most shared libraries exist only once in physical
   memory but are mapped into multiple processes. This memory should only be
   counted once when computing total memory usage. In the same way, the video
   memory on a graphics card or register memory on any device can be mapped
   into multiple processes. These mappings do not consume normal system RAM.

   This has been a frequently discussed topic on XFree86 mailing lists; see,
   for example:

    http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=xfree-xpert&m=96835767116567&w=2

   The 'pmap' utility described in the above thread is available here:
   http://web.hexapodia.org/~adi/pmap.c and is a useful tool in distinguishing
   between types of memory mappings. For example, while 'top' may indicate
   that X is using several hundred MB of memory, the last line of output from
   pmap:
   
       mapped:   287020 KB writable/private: 9932 KB shared: 264656 KB
   
   reveals that X is really only using roughly 10MB of system RAM (the
   "writable/private" value).

   Note, also, that X must allocate resources on behalf of X clients (the
   window manager, your web browser, etc); X's memory usage will increase as
   more clients request resources such as pixmaps, and decrease as you close X
   applications.


Q. Where can I find the tarballs?

A. Plain tarballs are no longer available. The '.run' file is a tarball with a
   shell script prepended. You can execute the '.run' file with the
   --extract-only option to unpack the tarball.


Q. Where can I find older driver versions?

A. Please visit ftp://download.nvidia.com/XFree86_40/


Q. I want to use Valgrind with OpenGL applications, but my distribution uses
   ELF TLS, and Valgrind cannot yet deal with NVIDIA's ELF TLS OpenGL. What do
   I do?

A. You can set the environment variable 'LD_ASSUME_KERNEL' to something below
   "2.3.99" (e.g. 2.3.98). Please see the new user guide, Chapter 8, for more
   tips on setting environment variables.

   NVIDIA's OpenGL libraries contain an OS ABI ELF note that indicates the
   minimum kernel version that is required to use the library. The ELF TLS
   OpenGL libraries have an OS ABI of 2.3.99 (the first Linux kernel that
   contained the necessary LDT support for ELF TLS), while the non ELF TLS
   OpenGL libraries contain an OS ABI of 2.2.5.

   The run-time loader will not load libraries with an OS ABI greater than the
   current kernel version. The 'LD_ASSUME_KERNEL' environment variable can be
   used to override the kernel version that the run-time loader uses in this
   test.

   By setting 'LD_ASSUME_KERNEL' to any kernel version below 2.3.99, you can
   force the loader to not use the ELF TLS OpenGL libraries, and fall back to
   the regular OpenGL libraries.

   If, for some reason, you need to remove this OS ABI note from the NVIDIA
   OpenGL libraries, you can do so by passing the '.run' file the
   --no-abi-note option during installation.


Q. What is SELinux and how does it interact with the NVIDIA driver ?

A. Security-Enhanced Linux (SELinux) is a set of modifications applied to the
   Linux kernel and utilities that implement a security policy architecture.
   When in use it requires that the security type on all shared libraries be
   set to 'shlib_t'. The installer detects when to set the security type, and
   sets it on all shared libraries it installs. The option --force-selinux
   passed to the '.run' file overrides the detection of when to set the
   security type.


Q. Using GNOME configuration utilities, I am unable to get a resolution above
   800x600. What is wrong?

A. The installation of GNOME provided in distributions such as Red Hat
   Enterprise Linux 4 contain several competing interfaces for specifying
   resolution:
   
   
       'System Settings' -> 'Display'
   
   
   which will update the X configuration file, and
   
   
       'Applications' -> 'Preferences' -> 'Screen Resolution'
   
   
   which will update the per-user screen resolution using the XRandR
   extension. Your desktop resolution will be limited to the smaller of the
   two settings. Please be sure to check the setting of each.


Q. My X server log file contains the message:
   
   
   (WW) NVIDIA(0): You appear to be using the XFree86-DGA extension.  Please
   (WW) NVIDIA(0):      be aware that support for this extension will be
   (WW) NVIDIA(0):      removed from the NVIDIA driver in a future driver
   (WW) NVIDIA(0):      release.  See the NVIDIA README for details.
   
   
   What is NVIDIA's plan for support of the XFree86-DGA extension?

A. Support for the XFree86-DGA extension will be removed from the NVIDIA
   driver in a future driver release. This means that while the extension will
   continue to be advertised and XDGASelectInput() will still function
   properly so that DGA clients can acquire relative pointer motion, DGA entry
   points such as XDGASetMode() and XDGAOpenFramebuffer() will fail.

   If you would prefer that DGA support not be removed from the NVIDIA X
   driver, please feel free to make your concerns known on the Linux forum on
   nvnews.net.


Q. My kernel log contains messages that are prefixed with "Xid"; what do these
   messages mean?

A. "Xid" messages indicate that a general GPU error occurred, most often due
   to the driver misprogramming the GPU or to corruption of the commands sent
   to the GPU. These messages provide diagnostic information that can be used
   by NVIDIA to aid in debugging reported problems.


Q. On what NVIDIA hardware is the EXT_framebuffer_object OpenGL extension
   supported?

A. EXT_framebuffer_object is supported on GeForce FX, Quadro FX, and newer
   GPUs.


______________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 5. Common Problems
______________________________________________________________________________

This section provides solutions to common problems associated with the NVIDIA
Linux x86 Driver.

Q. My X server fails to start, and my X log file contains the error:
   
   (EE) NVIDIA(0): The NVIDIA kernel module does not appear to be receiving
   (EE) NVIDIA(0):      interrupts generated by the NVIDIA graphics device.
   (EE) NVIDIA(0):      Please see the FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS section in
   (EE) NVIDIA(0):      the README for additional information.
   
   
A. This can be caused by a variety of problems, such as PCI IRQ routing
   errors, I/O APIC problems or conflicts with other devices sharing the IRQ
   (or their drivers).

   If possible, configure your system such that your graphics card does not
   share its IRQ with other devices (try moving the graphics card to another
   slot if applicable, unload/disable the driver(s) for the device(s) sharing
   the card's IRQ, or remove/disable the device(s)).

   Depending on the nature of the problem, one of (or a combination of) these
   kernel parameters might also help:
   
       Parameter         Behavior
       --------------    ---------------------------------------------------
       pci=noacpi        don't use ACPI for PCI IRQ routing
       pci=biosirq       use PCI BIOS calls to retrieve the IRQ routing
                         table
       noapic            don't use I/O APICs present in the system
       acpi=off          disable ACPI
   
   

Q. X starts for me, but OpenGL applications terminate immediately.

A. If X starts but you have trouble with OpenGL, you most likely have a
   problem with other libraries in the way, or there are stale symlinks. See
   Appendix C for details. Sometimes, all it takes is to rerun 'ldconfig'.

   You should also check that the correct extensions are present;
   
       % xdpyinfo
   
   should show the "GLX" and "NV-GLX" extensions present. If these two
   extensions are not present, then there is most likely a problem loading the
   glx module, or it is unable to implicitly load GLcore. Check your X config
   file and make sure that you are loading glx (see Chapter 3). If your X
   config file is correct, then check the X log file for warnings/errors
   pertaining to GLX. Also check that all of the necessary symlinks are in
   place (refer to Appendix C).


Q. When Xinerama is enabled, my stereo glasses are shuttering only when the
   stereo application is displayed on one specific X screen. When the
   application is displayed on the other X screens, the stereo glasses stop
   shuttering.

A. This problem occurs with DDC and "blue line" stereo glasses, that get the
   stereo signal from one video port of the graphics card. When a X screen
   does not display any stereo drawable the stereo signal is disabled on the
   associated video port.

   Forcing stereo flipping allows the stereo glasses to shutter continuously.
   This can be done by enabling the OpenGL control "Force Stereo Flipping" in
   nvidia-settings, or by setting the X configuration option
   "ForceStereoFlipping" to "1".


Q. My X server fails to start, and my X log file contains the error:
   
   (EE) NVIDIA(0): Failed to load the NVIDIA kernel module!
   
   
A. The X driver will abort with this error message if the NVIDIA kernel module
   fails to load. If you receive this error, you should check the output of
   `dmesg` for kernel error messages and/or attempt to load the kernel module
   explicitly with `modprobe nvidia`. If unresolved symbols are reported, then
   the kernel module was most likely built against a Linux kernel source tree
   (or kernel headers) for a kernel revision or configuration that doesn't
   match the running kernel.

   You can specify the location of the kernel source tree (or headers) when
   you install the NVIDIA driver using the --kernel-source-path command line
   option (see `sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-8178-pkg1.run --advanced-options` for
   details).

   Old versions of the module-init-tools include `modprobe` binaries that
   report an error when instructed to load a module that's already loaded into
   the kernel. Please upgrade your module-init-tools if you receive an error
   message to this effect.

   The X server reads '/proc/sys/kernel/modprobe' to determine the path to the
   `modprobe` utility and falls back to '/sbin/modprobe' if the file doesn't
   exist. Please make sure that this path is valid and refers to a `modprobe`
   binary compatible with the Linux kernel running on your system.

   The "LoadKernelModule" X driver option can be used to change the default
   behavior and disable kernel module auto-loading.


Q. Installing the NVIDIA kernel module gives an error message like:
   
   #error Modules should never use kernel-headers system headers
   #error but headers from an appropriate kernel-source
   
   
A. You need to install the source for the Linux kernel. In most situations you
   can fix this problem by installing the kernel-source package for your
   distribution


Q. OpenGL applications crash and print out the following warning:
   
   WARNING: Your system is running with a buggy dynamic loader.
   This may cause crashes in certain applications.  If you
   experience crashes you can try setting the environment
   variable __GL_SINGLE_THREADED to 1.  For more information
   please consult the FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS section in
   the file /usr/share/doc/NVIDIA_GLX-1.0/README.txt.
   
   
A. The dynamic loader on your system has a bug which will cause applications
   linked with pthreads, and that dlopen() libGL multiple times, to crash.
   This bug is present in older versions of the dynamic loader. Distributions
   that shipped with this loader include but are not limited to Red Hat Linux
   6.2 and Mandrake Linux 7.1. Version 2.2 and later of the dynamic loader are
   known to work properly. If the crashing application is single threaded then
   setting the environment variable '__GL_SINGLE_THREADED' to "1" will prevent
   the crash. In the bash shell you would enter:
   
       % export __GL_SINGLE_THREADED=1
   
   and in csh and derivatives use:
   
       % setenv __GL_SINGLE_THREADED 1
   
   Previous releases of the NVIDIA Accelerated Linux Driver Set attempted to
   work around this problem. Unfortunately, the workaround caused problems
   with other applications and was removed after version 1.0-1541.


Q. Quake3 crashes when changing video modes.

A. You are probably experiencing a problem described above. Please check the
   text output for the "WARNING" message described in the previous hint.
   Setting '__GL_SINGLE_THREADED' to "1" as will fix the problem.


Q. I cannot build the NVIDIA kernel module, or, I can build the NVIDIA kernel
   module, but modprobe/insmod fails to load the module into my kernel. What
   is wrong?

A. These problems are generally caused by the build using the wrong kernel
   header files (i.e. header files for a different kernel version than the one
   you are running). The convention used to be that kernel header files should
   be stored in '/usr/include/linux/', but that is deprecated in favor of
   '/lib/modules/RELEASE/build/include' (where RELEASE is the result of 'uname
   -r'. The 'nvidia-installer' should be able to determine the location on
   your system; however, if you encounter a problem you can force the build to
   use certain header files by using the --kernel-include-dir option. For this
   to work you will of course need the appropriate kernel header files
   installed on your system. Consult the documentation that came with your
   distribution; some distributions do not install the kernel header files by
   default, or they install headers that do not coincide properly with the
   kernel you are running.


Q. There are problems running Heretic II.

A. Heretic II installs, by default, a symlink called 'libGL.so' in the
   application directory. You can remove or rename this symlink, since the
   system will then find the default 'libGL.so' (which our drivers install in
   '/usr/lib'). From within Heretic II you can then set your render mode to
   OpenGL in the video menu. There is also a patch available to Heretic II
   from lokigames at: http://www.lokigames.com/products/heretic2/updates.php3/


Q. My system hangs when switching to a virtual terminal if I have rivafb
   enabled.

A. Using both rivafb and the NVIDIA kernel module at the same time is
   currently broken. In general, using two independent software drivers to
   drive the same piece of hardware is a bad idea.


Q. Compiling the NVIDIA kernel module gives this error:
   
   You appear to be compiling the NVIDIA kernel module with
   a compiler different from the one that was used to compile
   the running kernel. This may be perfectly fine, but there
   are cases where this can lead to unexpected behavior and
   system crashes.
   
   If you know what you are doing and want to override this
   check, you can do so by setting IGNORE_CC_MISMATCH.
   
   In any other case, set the CC environment variable to the
   name of the compiler that was used to compile the kernel.
   
   
A. You should compile the NVIDIA kernel module with the same compiler version
   that was used to compile your kernel. Some Linux kernel data structures are
   dependent on the version of gcc used to compile it; for example, in
   'include/linux/spinlock.h':
   
           ...
           * Most gcc versions have a nasty bug with empty initializers.
           */
           #if (__GNUC__ > 2)
             typedef struct { } rwlock_t;
             #define RW_LOCK_UNLOCKED (rwlock_t) { }
           #else
             typedef struct { int gcc_is_buggy; } rwlock_t;
             #define RW_LOCK_UNLOCKED (rwlock_t) { 0 }
           #endif
   
   If the kernel is compiled with gcc 2.x, but gcc 3.x is used when the kernel
   interface is compiled (or vice versa), the size of rwlock_t will vary, and
   things like ioremap will fail. To check what version of gcc was used to
   compile your kernel, you can examine the output of:
   
       % cat /proc/version
   
   To check what version of gcc is currently in your '$PATH', you can examine
   the output of:
   
       % gcc -v
   
   

Q. X fails with error
   
   Failed to allocate LUT context DMA
   
   
A. This is one of the possible consequences of compiling the NVIDIA kernel
   interface with a different gcc version than used to compile the Linux
   kernel (see above).


Q. I recently updated various libraries on my system using my Linux
   distributor's update utility, and the NVIDIA graphics driver no longer
   works.

A. Conflicting libraries may have been installed by your distribution's update
   utility; please see Appendix C for details on how to diagnose this.


Q. I have rebuilt the NVIDIA kernel module, but when I try to insert it, I get
   a message telling me I have unresolved symbols.

A. Unresolved symbols are most often caused by a mismatch between your kernel
   sources and your running kernel. They must match for the NVIDIA kernel
   module to build correctly. Please make sure your kernel sources are
   installed and configured to match your running kernel.


Q. How do I tell if I have my kernel sources installed?

A. If you are running on a distro that uses RPM (Red Hat, Mandrake, SuSE,
   etc), then you can use 'rpm' to tell you. At a shell prompt, type:
   
       % rpm -qa | grep kernel
   
   and look at the output. You should see a package that corresponds to your
   kernel (often named something like kernel-2.4.18-3) and a kernel source
   package with the same version (often named something like
   kernel-source-2.4.18-3). If none of the lines seem to correspond to a
   source package, then you will probably need to install it. If the versions
   listed mismatch (e.g., kernel-2.4.18-10 vs. kernel-source-2.4.18-3), then
   you will need to update the kernel-source package to match the installed
   kernel. If you have multiple kernels installed, you need to install the
   kernel-source package that corresponds to your RUNNING kernel (or make sure
   your installed source package matches the running kernel). You can do this
   by looking at the output of 'uname -r' and matching versions.


Q. I am unable to load the NVIDIA kernel module that I compiled for the Red
   Hat Linux 7.3 2.4.18-3bigmem kernel.

A. The kernel header files Red Hat Linux distributes for Red Hat Linux 7.3
   2.4.18-3bigmem kernel are misconfigured. NVIDIA's precompiled kernel module
   for this kernel can be loaded, but if you want to compile the NVIDIA kernel
   interface files yourself for this kernel, then you will need to perform the
   following:
   
       # cd /lib/modules/`uname -r`/build/
       # make mrproper
       # cp configs/kernel-2.4.18-i686-bigmem.config .config
       # make oldconfig dep
   
   Note: Red Hat Linux ships kernel header files that are simultaneously
   configured for ALL of their kernels for a particular distribution version.
   A header file generated at boot time sets up a few parameters that select
   the correct configuration. Rebuilding the kernel headers with the above
   commands will create header files suitable for the Red Hat Linux 7.3
   2.4.18-3bigmem kernel configuration only, thus making the header files for
   the other configurations unusable.


Q. OpenGL applications leak significant amounts of memory on my system!

A. If your kernel is making use of the -rmap VM, the system may be leaking
   memory due to a memory management optimization introduced in -rmap14a. The
   -rmap VM has been adopted by several popular distributions, the memory leak
   is known to be present in some of the distribution kernels; it has been
   fixed in -rmap15e.

   If you suspect that your system is affected, please try upgrading your
   kernel or contact your distribution's vendor for assistance.


Q. Some OpenGL applications (like Quake3 Arena) crash when I start them on Red
   Hat Linux 9.0.

A. Some versions of the glibc package shipped by Red Hat that support TLS do
   not properly handle using dlopen() to access shared libraries which use
   some TLS models. This problem is exhibited, for example, when Quake3 Area
   dlopen() 's NVIDIA's libGL library. Please obtain at least glibc-2.3.2-11.9
   which is available as an update from Red Hat.


Q. I have installed the driver, but my Enable 3D Acceleration checkbox is
   still grayed out.

A. Most distribution-provided configuration applets are not aware of the
   NVIDIA accelerated driver, and consequently will not update themselves when
   you install the driver. Your driver, if it has been installed properly,
   should function fine.


Q. X does not restore the VGA console when run on a TV. I get this error
   message in my X log file:
   
   Unable to initialize the X int10 module; the console may not be
   restored correctly on your TV.
   
   
A. The NVIDIA X driver uses the X Int10 module to save and restore console
   state on TV out, and will not be able to restore the console correctly if
   it cannot use the Int10 module. If you have built the X server yourself,
   please be sure you have built the Int10 module. If you are using a build of
   the X server provided by a Linux distribution, and are missing the Int10
   module, please contact your distributor.


Q. When changing settings in games like Quake 3 Arena, or Wolfenstein Enemy
   Territory, the game crashes and I see this error:
   
   ...loading libGL.so.1: QGL_Init: dlopen libGL.so.1 failed: 
   /usr/lib/tls/libGL.so.1: shared object cannot be dlopen()ed:
   static TLS memory too small
   
   
A. These games close and reopen the NVIDIA OpenGL driver (via dlopen() /
   dlclose()) when settings are changed. On some versions of glibc (such as
   the one shipped with Red Hat Linux 9), there is a bug that leaks static TLS
   entries. This glibc bug causes subsequent re-loadings of the OpenGL driver
   to fail. This is fixed in more recent versions of glibc; please see Red Hat
   bug #89692: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=89692


Q. X crashes during 'startx', and my X log file contains this error message:
   
   (EE) NVIDIA(0): Failed to obtain a shared memory identifier.
   
   
A. The NVIDIA OpenGL driver and the NVIDIA X driver require shared memory to
   communicate; you must have 'CONFIG_SYSVIPC' enabled in your kernel.


Q. When I try to install the driver, the installer claims that X is running,
   even though I have exited X.

A. The installer detects the presence of an X server by checking for X's lock
   files: '/tmp/.Xn-lock', where 'n' is the number of the X Display (the
   installer checks for X Displays 0-7). If you have exited X, but one of
   these files has been left behind, then you will need to manually delete the
   lock file. DO NOT remove this file if X is still running!


Q. My system runs, but seems unstable. What is wrong?

A. Your stability problems may be AGP-related. See Appendix F for details.


Q. OpenGL applications are running slowly

A. The application is probably using a different library still on your system,
   rather than the NVIDIA supplied OpenGL library. Please see Appendix C for
   details.


Q. There are problems running Quake2.

A. Quake2 requires some minor setup to get it going. First, in the Quake2
   directory, the install creates a symlink called 'libGL.so' that points at
   'libMesaGL.so'. This symlink should be removed or renamed. Second, in order
   to run Quake2 in OpenGL mode, you must type
   
       % quake2 +set vid_ref glx +set gl_driver libGL.so
   
   Quake2 does not seem to support any kind of full-screen mode, but you can
   run your X server at the same resolution as Quake2 to emulate full-screen
   mode.


Q. I am using either nForce of nForce2 internal graphics, and I see warnings
   like this in my X log file:
   
   Not using mode "1600x1200" (exceeds valid memory bandwidth usage)
   
   
A. Integrated graphics have more strict memory bandwidth limitations that
   limit the resolution and refresh rate of the modes you request. To work
   around this, you can reduce the maximum refresh rate by lowering the upper
   value of the VertRefresh range in the 'Monitor' section of your X config
   file. Though not recommended, you can disable the memory bandwidth test
   with the NoBandWidthTest X config file option.


Q. X takes a long time to start (possibly several minutes).

A. Most of the startx delay problems we have found are caused by incorrect
   data in video BIOSes about what display devices are possibly connected or
   what i2c port should be used for detection. You can work around these
   problems with the X config option IgnoreDisplayDevices (please see the
   description in Appendix D).


Q. Fonts are incorrectly sized after installing the NVIDIA driver.

A. Incorrectly sized fonts are generally caused by incorrect DPI (Dots Per
   Inch) information. You can check what X thinks the physical size of your
   monitor is, by running:
   
    % xdpyinfo | grep dimensions
   
   This will report the size in pixels, and in millimeters.

   If these numbers are wrong, you can correct them by modifying the X
   server's DPI setting. See Appendix Y for details.


Q. General problems with ALi chipsets

A. There are some known timing and signal integrity issues on ALi chipsets.
   The following tips may help stabilize problematic ALI systems:
   
      o Disable TURBO AGP MODE in the BIOS.
   
      o When using a P5A upgrade to BIOS Revision 1002 BETA 2.
   
      o When using 1007, 1007A or 1009 adjust the IO Recovery Time to 4
        cycles.
   
      o AGP is disabled by default on some ALi chipsets (ALi1541, ALi1647) to
        work around severe system stability problems with these chipsets. See
        the comments for NVreg_EnableALiAGP in 'os-registry.c' to force AGP
        on anyway.
   
   

______________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 6. NVIDIA Contact Info
______________________________________________________________________________

There is an NVIDIA Linux Driver web forum. You can access it by going to
http://www.nvnews.net and following the "Forum" and "Linux Discussion Area"
links. This is the preferable tool for seeking help; users can post questions,
answer other users' questions, and search the archives of previous postings.

If all else fails, you can contact NVIDIA for support at:
linux-bugs@nvidia.com. But please, only send email to this address after you
have explored the Chapter 4 and Chapter 5 chapters of this document, and asked
for help on the nvnews.net web forum. When emailing linux-bugs@nvidia.com,
please include the 'nvidia-bug-report.log' file generated by the
'nvidia-bug-report.sh' script (which is installed as part of driver
installation).

______________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 7. Additional Resources
______________________________________________________________________________



Resources

Linux OpenGL ABI

     http://oss.sgi.com/projects/ogl-sample/ABI/

The XFree86 Project

     http://www.xfree86.org/

XFree86 Video Timings HOWTO

     http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/XFree86-Video-Timings-HOWTO/index.html

The X.org Foundation

     http://www.x.org/

OpenGL

     http://www.opengl.org/


______________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 8. Tips for New Linux Users
______________________________________________________________________________

This installation guide assumes that the user has at least a basic
understanding of Linux techniques and terminology. In this section we provide
tips that the new user may find helpful. While the these tips are meant to
clarify and assist users in installing and configuring the NVIDIA Linux
Driver, it is by no means a tutorial on the use or administration of the Linux
operating system. Unlike many desktop operating systems, it is relatively easy
to cause irreparable damage to your Linux system. If you are unfamiliar with
the use of Linux, we strongly recommend that you seek a tutorial through your
distributor before proceeding.

THE COMMAND PROMPT

While newer releases of Linux bring new desktop interfaces to the user, much
of the work in Linux takes place at the command prompt. If you are familiar
with the Windows operating system, the Linux command prompt is analogous to
the Windows[1] command prompt, although the syntax and use varies somewhat.
All of the commands in this section are performed at the command prompt. Some
systems are configured to boot into console mode, in which case the user is
presented with a prompt at login. Other systems are configured to start the X
window system, in which case the user must open a terminal or console window
in order to get a command prompt. This can usually be done by searching the
desktop menus for a terminal or console program. While it is customizable, the
basic prompt usually consists of a short string of information, one of the
characters '#', '$', or '%', and a cursor (possibly flashing) that indicates
where the user's input will be displayed.

NAVIGATING THE DIRECTORY STRUCTURE

Linux has a hierarchical directory structure. From anywhere in the directory
structure, the 'ls' command will list the contents of that directory. The
'file' command will print the type of files in a directory. For example,

    % file filename

will print the type of the file 'filename'. Changing directories is done with
the 'cd' command.

    % cd dirname

will change the current directory to 'dirname'. From anywhere in the directory
structure, the command 'pwd' will print the name of the current directory.
There are two special directories, '.' and '..', which refer to the current
directory and the next directory up the hierarchy, respectively. For any
commands that require a file name or directory name as an argument, you may
specify the absolute or the relative paths to those elements. An absolute path
begins with the "/" character, referring to the top or root of the directory
structure. A relative path begins with a directory in the current working
directory. The relative path may begin with '.' or '..'. Elements of a path
are separated with the "/" character. As an example, if the current directory
is '/home/jesse' and the user wants to change to the '/usr/local' directory,
he can use either of the following commands to do so:

    % cd /usr/local

or

    % cd ../../usr/local


FILE PERMISSIONS AND OWNERSHIP

All files and directories have permissions and ownership associated with them.
This is useful for preventing non-administrative users from accidentally (or
maliciously) corrupting the system. The permissions and ownership for a file
or directory can be determined by passing the -l option to the 'ls' command.
For example:

% ls -l
drwxr-xr-x     2    jesse    users    4096    Feb     8 09:32 bin
drwxrwxrwx    10    jesse    users    4096    Feb    10 12:04 pub
-rw-r--r--     1    jesse    users      45    Feb     4 03:55 testfile
-rwx------     1    jesse    users      93    Feb     5 06:20 myprogram
-rw-rw-rw-     1    jesse    users     112    Feb     5 06:20 README
% 

The first character column in the first output field states the file type,
where 'd' is a directory and '-' is a regular file. The next nine columns
specify the permissions (see below) of the element. The second field indicates
the number of files associated with the element, the third field indicates the
owner, the fourth field indicates the group that the file is associated with,
the fifth field indicates the size of the element in bytes, the sixth, seventh
and eighth fields indicate the time at which the file was last modified and
the ninth field is the name of the element.

As stated, the last nine columns in the first field indicate the permissions
of the element. These columns are grouped into threes, the first grouping
indicating the permissions for the owner of the element ('jesse' in this
case), the second grouping indicating the permissions for the group associated
with the element, and the third grouping indicating the permissions associated
with the rest of the world. The 'r', 'w', and 'x' indicate read, write and
execute permissions, respectively, for each of these associations. For
example, user 'jesse' has read and write permissions for 'testfile', users in
the group 'users' have read permission only, and the rest of the world also
has read permissions only. However, for the file 'myprogram', user 'jesse' has
read, write and execute permissions (suggesting that 'myprogram' is a program
that can be executed), while the group 'users' and the rest of the world have
no permissions (suggesting that the owner doesn't want anyone else to run his
program). The permissions, ownership and group associated with an element can
be changed with the commands 'chmod', 'chown' and 'chgrp', respectively. If a
user with the appropriate permissions wanted to change the user/group
ownership of 'README' from jesse/users to joe/admin, he would do the
following:

    # chown joe README
    # chgrp admin README

The syntax for chmod is slightly more complicated and has several variations.
The most concise way of setting the permissions for a single element uses a
triplet of numbers, one for each of user, group and world. The value for each
number in the triplet corresponds to a combination of read, write and execute
permissions. Execute only is represented as 1, write only is represented as 2,
and read only is represented as 4. Combinations of these permissions are
represented as sums of the individual permissions. Read and execute is
represented as 5, where as read, write and execute is represented as 7. No
permissions is represented as 0. Thus, to give the owner read, write and
execute permissions, the group read and execute permissions and the world no
permissions, a user would do as follows:

    % chmod 750 myprogram


THE SHELL

The shell provides an interface between the user and the operating system. It
is the job of the shell to interpret the input that the user gives at the
command prompt and call upon the system to do something in response. There are
several different shells available, each with somewhat different syntax and
capabilities. The two most common flavors of shells used on Linux stem from
the Bourne shell ('sh') and the C-shell ('csh') Different users have
preferences and biases towards one shell or the other, and some certainly make
it easier (or at least more intuitive) to do some things than others. You can
determine your current shell by printing the value of the 'SHELL' environment
variable from the command prompt with

    % echo $SHELL

You can start a new shell simply by entering the name of the shell from the
command prompt:

    % csh

or

    % sh

and you can run a program from within a specific shell by preceding the name
of the executable with the name of the shell in which it will be run:

    % sh myprogram

The user's default shell at login is determined by whoever set up his account.
While there are many syntactic differences between shells, perhaps the one
that is encountered most frequently is the way in which environment variables
are set.

SETTING ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

Every session has associated with it environment variables, which consist of
name/value pairs and control the way in which the shell and programs run from
the shell behave. An example of an environment variable is the 'PATH'
variable, which tells the shell which directories to search when trying to
locate an executable file that the user has entered at the command line. If
you are certain that a command exists, but the shell complains that it cannot
be found when you try to execute it, there is likely a problem with the 'PATH'
variable. Environment variables are set differently depending on the shell
being used. For the Bourne shell ('sh'), it is done as:

    % export MYVARIABLE="avalue"

for the C-shell, it is done as:

    % setenv MYVARIABLE "avalue"

In both cases the quotation marks are only necessary if the value contains
spaces. The 'echo' command can be used to examine the value of an environment
variable:

    % echo $MYVARIABLE

Commands to set environment variables can also include references to other
environment variables (prepended with the "$" character), including
themselves. In order to add the path '/usr/local/bin' to the beginning of the
search path, and the current directory '.' to the end of the search path, a
user would enter

    % export PATH=/usr/local/bin:$PATH:.

in the Bourne shell, and

    % setenv PATH /usr/local/bin:${PATH}:.

in C-shell. Note the curly braces are required to protect the variable name in
C-shell.

EDITING TEXT FILES

There are several text editors available for the Linux operating system. Some
of these editors require the X window system, while others are designed to
operate in a console or terminal. It is generally a good thing to be competent
with a terminal-based text editor, as there are times when the files necessary
for X to run are the ones that must be edited. Three popular editors are 'vi',
'pico' and 'emacs', each of which can be started from the command line,
optionally supplying the name of a file to be edited. 'vi' is arguably the
most ubiquitous as well as the least intuitive of the three. 'pico' is
relatively straightforward for a new user, though not as often installed on
systems. If you don't have 'pico', you may have a similar editor called
'nano'. 'emacs' is highly extensible and fairly widely available, but can be
somewhat unwieldy in a non-X environment. The newer versions each come with
online help, and offline help can be found in the manual and info pages for
each (please see the section on Linux Manual and Info pages). Many programs
use the 'EDITOR' environment variable to determine which text editor to start
when editing is required.

ROOT USER

Upon installation, almost all distributions set up the default administrative
user with the username 'root'. There are many things on the system that only
'root' (or a similarly privileged user) can do, one of which is installing the
NVIDIA Linux Driver. WE MUST EMPHASIZE THAT ASSUMING THE IDENTITY OF 'root' IS
INHERENTLY RISKY AND AS 'root' IT IS RELATIVELY EASY TO CORRUPT YOUR SYSTEM OR
OTHERWISE RENDER IT UNUSABLE. There are three ways to become 'root'. You may
log in as 'root' as you would any other user, you may use the switch user
command ('su') at the command prompt, or, on some systems, use the 'sudo'
utility, which allows users to run programs as 'root' while keeping a log of
their actions. This last method is useful in case a user inadvertently causes
damage to the system and cannot remember what he has done (or prefers not to
admit what he has done). It is generally a good practice to remain 'root' only
as long as is necessary to accomplish the task requiring 'root' privileges
(another useful feature of the 'sudo' utility).

BOOTING TO A DIFFERENT RUNLEVEL

Runlevels in Linux dictate which services are started and stopped
automatically when the system boots or shuts down. The runlevels typically
range from 0 to 6, with runlevel 5 typically starting the X window system as
part of the services (runlevel 0 is actually a system halt, and 6 is a system
reboot). It is good practice to install the NVIDIA Linux Driver while X is not
running, and it is a good idea to prevent X from starting on reboot in case
there are problems with the installation (otherwise you may find yourself with
a broken system that automatically tries to start X, but then hangs during the
startup, preventing you from doing the repairs necessary to fix X). Depending
on your network setup, runlevels 1, 2 or 3 should be sufficient for installing
the Driver. Level 3 typically includes networking services, so if utilities
used by the system during installation depend on a remote filesystem, Levels 1
and 2 will be insufficient. If your system typically boots to a console with a
command prompt, you should not need to change anything. If your system
typically boots to the X window system with a graphical login and desktop, you
must both exit X and change your default runlevel.

On most distributions, the default runlevel is stored in the file
'/etc/inittab', although you may have to consult the guide for your own
distribution. The line that indicates the default runlevel appears as

    id:n:initdefault:

or similar, where "n" indicates the number of the runlevel. '/etc/inittab'
must be edited as root. Please read the sections on editing files and root
user if you are unfamiliar with this concept. Also, it is recommended that you
create a copy of the file prior to editing it, particularly if you are new to
Linux text editors, in case you accidentally corrupt the file:

    # cp /etc/inittab /etc/inittab.original

The line should be edited such that an appropriate runlevel is the default (1,
2, or 3 on most systems):

    id:3:initdefault:

After saving the changes, exit X. After the Driver installation is complete,
you may revert the default runlevel to its original state, either by editing
the '/etc/inittab' again or by moving your backup copy back to its original
name.

Different distributions provide different ways to exit X. On many systems, the
'init' utility will change the current runlevel. This can be used to change to
a runlevel in which X is not running.

    # init 3

There are other methods by which to exit X. Please consult your distribution.

LINUX MANUAL AND INFO PAGES

System manual or info pages are usually installed during installation. These
pages are typically up-to-date and generally contain a comprehensive listing
of the use of programs and utilities on the system. Also, many programs
include the --help option, which usually prints a list of common options for
that program. To view the manual page for a command, enter

    % man commandname

at the command prompt, where commandname refers to the command in which you
are interested. Similarly, entering

    % info commandname

will bring up the info page for the command. Depending on the application, one
or the other may be more up-to-date. The interface for the info system is
interactive and navigable. If you are unable to locate the man page for the
command you are interested in, you may need to add additional elements to your
'MANPATH' environment variable. Please see the section on environment
variables.

                                 - FOOTNOTES -

[1] Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United
    States and other countries.

______________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 9. Acknowledgements
______________________________________________________________________________

 'nvidia-installer' was inspired by the 'loki_update' tool:
http://www.lokigames.com/development/loki_update.php3/

The FTP and HTTP support in 'nvidia-installer' is based upon 'snarf 7.0':
http://www.xach.com/snarf/

The self-extracting archive (aka '.run' file) is generated using
'makeself.sh': http://www.megastep.org/makeself/

______________________________________________________________________________

Appendix A. Supported NVIDIA Graphics Chips
______________________________________________________________________________


    NVIDIA chip name                      Device PCI ID
    ----------------------------------    ----------------------------------
    GeForce 6800 Ultra                    0x0040
    GeForce 6800                          0x0041
    GeForce 6800 XE                       0x0043
    GeForce 6800 GT                       0x0045
    GeForce 6800 GT                       0x0046
    Quadro FX 4000                        0x004E
    GeForce 7800 GTX                      0x0090
    GeForce 7800 GTX                      0x0091
    GeForce 7800 GT                       0x0092
    GeForce 7800 GS                       0x0093
    GeForce 6800 GS                       0x00C0
    GeForce 6800                          0x00C1
    GeForce 6800 LE                       0x00C2
    GeForce Go 6800                       0x00C8
    GeForce Go 6800 Ultra                 0x00C9
    Quadro FX Go1400                      0x00CC
    Quadro FX 3450/4000 SDI               0x00CD
    Quadro FX 1400                        0x00CE
    GeForce 6800/GeForce 6800 Ultra       0x00F0
    GeForce 6600/GeForce 6600 GT          0x00F1
    GeForce 6600                          0x00F2
    GeForce 6200                          0x00F3
    Quadro FX 3400                        0x00F8
    GeForce 6800 Ultra                    0x00F9
    GeForce PCX 5750                      0x00FA
    GeForce PCX 5900                      0x00FB
    Quadro FX 330/GeForce PCX 5300        0x00FC
    Quadro NVS 280 PCI-E                  0x00FD
    Quadro FX 330                         0x00FD
    Quadro FX 1300                        0x00FE
    GeForce PCX 4300                      0x00FF
    GeForce2 MX/MX 400                    0x0110
    GeForce2 MX 100/200                   0x0111
    GeForce2 Go                           0x0112
    Quadro2 MXR/EX/Go                     0x0113
    GeForce 6600 GT                       0x0140
    GeForce 6600                          0x0141
    GeForce 6600 LE                       0x0142
    GeForce Go 6600                       0x0144
    GeForce 6610 XL                       0x0145
    GeForce Go 6600 TE/6200 TE            0x0146
    GeForce Go 6600                       0x0148
    GeForce Go 6600 GT                    0x0149
    Quadro FX 540                         0x014E
    GeForce 6200                          0x014F
    GeForce 6200 TurboCache(TM)           0x0161
    GeForce Go 6200                       0x0164
    GeForce Go 6400                       0x0166
    GeForce Go 6200                       0x0167
    GeForce Go 6400                       0x0168
    GeForce4 MX 460                       0x0170
    GeForce4 MX 440                       0x0171
    GeForce4 MX 420                       0x0172
    GeForce4 MX 440-SE                    0x0173
    GeForce4 440 Go                       0x0174
    GeForce4 420 Go                       0x0175
    GeForce4 420 Go 32M                   0x0176
    GeForce4 460 Go                       0x0177
    Quadro4 550 XGL                       0x0178
    GeForce4 440 Go 64M                   0x0179
    Quadro NVS                            0x017A
    Quadro4 500 GoGL                      0x017C
    GeForce4 410 Go 16M                   0x017D
    GeForce4 MX 440 with AGP8X            0x0181
    GeForce4 MX 440SE with AGP8X          0x0182
    GeForce4 MX 420 with AGP8X            0x0183
    GeForce4 MX 4000                      0x0185
    Quadro4 580 XGL                       0x0188
    Quadro NVS with AGP8X                 0x018A
    Quadro4 380 XGL                       0x018B
    Quadro NVS 50 PCI                     0x018C
    GeForce2 Integrated GPU               0x01A0
    GeForce4 MX Integrated GPU            0x01F0
    GeForce3                              0x0200
    GeForce3 Ti 200                       0x0201
    GeForce3 Ti 500                       0x0202
    Quadro DCC                            0x0203
    GeForce 6800                          0x0211
    GeForce 6800 LE                       0x0212
    GeForce 6800 GT                       0x0215
    GeForce 6150                          0x0240
    GeForce 6100                          0x0242
    GeForce4 Ti 4600                      0x0250
    GeForce4 Ti 4400                      0x0251
    GeForce4 Ti 4200                      0x0253
    Quadro4 900 XGL                       0x0258
    Quadro4 750 XGL                       0x0259
    Quadro4 700 XGL                       0x025B
    GeForce4 Ti 4800                      0x0280
    GeForce4 Ti 4200 with AGP8X           0x0281
    GeForce4 Ti 4800 SE                   0x0282
    GeForce4 4200 Go                      0x0286
    Quadro4 980 XGL                       0x0288
    Quadro4 780 XGL                       0x0289
    Quadro4 700 GoGL                      0x028C
    GeForce FX 5800 Ultra                 0x0301
    GeForce FX 5800                       0x0302
    Quadro FX 2000                        0x0308
    Quadro FX 1000                        0x0309
    GeForce FX 5600 Ultra                 0x0311
    GeForce FX 5600                       0x0312
    GeForce FX 5600XT                     0x0314
    GeForce FX Go5600                     0x031A
    GeForce FX Go5650                     0x031B
    Quadro FX Go700                       0x031C
    GeForce FX 5200                       0x0320
    GeForce FX 5200 Ultra                 0x0321
    GeForce FX 5200                       0x0322
    GeForce FX 5200LE                     0x0323
    GeForce FX Go5200                     0x0324
    GeForce FX Go5250                     0x0325
    GeForce FX 5500                       0x0326
    GeForce FX 5100                       0x0327
    GeForce FX Go5200 32M/64M             0x0328
    Quadro NVS 280 PCI                    0x032A
    Quadro FX 500/600 PCI                 0x032B
    GeForce FX Go53xx                     0x032C
    GeForce FX Go5100                     0x032D
    GeForce FX 5900 Ultra                 0x0330
    GeForce FX 5900                       0x0331
    GeForce FX 5900XT                     0x0332
    GeForce FX 5950 Ultra                 0x0333
    GeForce FX 5900ZT                     0x0334
    Quadro FX 3000                        0x0338
    Quadro FX 700                         0x033F
    GeForce FX 5700 Ultra                 0x0341
    GeForce FX 5700                       0x0342
    GeForce FX 5700LE                     0x0343
    GeForce FX 5700VE                     0x0344
    GeForce FX Go5700                     0x0347
    GeForce FX Go5700                     0x0348
    Quadro FX Go1000                      0x034C
    Quadro FX 1100                        0x034E


Below are the legacy GPUs that are no longer supported in the unified driver.
These GPUs will continue to be maintained through the special legacy NVIDIA
GPU driver releases.


    NVIDIA chip name                      Device PCI ID
    ----------------------------------    ----------------------------------
    RIVA TNT                              0x0020
    RIVA TNT2/TNT2 Pro                    0x0028
    RIVA TNT2 Ultra                       0x0029
    Vanta/Vanta LT                        0x002C
    RIVA TNT2 Model 64/Model 64 Pro       0x002D
    Aladdin TNT2                          0x00A0
    GeForce 256                           0x0100
    GeForce DDR                           0x0101
    Quadro                                0x0103
    GeForce2 GTS/GeForce2 Pro             0x0150
    GeForce2 Ti                           0x0151
    GeForce2 Ultra                        0x0152
    Quadro2 Pro                           0x0153


______________________________________________________________________________

Appendix B. Minimum Software Requirements
______________________________________________________________________________



    Software Element         Min Requirement          Check With...
    ---------------------    ---------------------    ---------------------
    Linux kernel             2.4.0                    `cat /proc/version`
    XFree86/Xorg             4.0.1/6.7                `XFree86
                                                      -version/Xorg
                                                      -version`
    Kernel modutils          2.1.121                  `insmod -v`


If you need to build the NVIDIA kernel module:

    Software Element         Min Requirement          Check With...
    ---------------------    ---------------------    ---------------------
    binutils                 2.9.5                    `size --version`
    GNU make                 3.77                     `make --version`
    gcc                      2.91.66                  `gcc --version`
    glibc                    2.0                      `ls /lib/libc.so.* >
                                                      6`


If you build from source RPMs:

    Required Software Element             Check With...
    ----------------------------------    ----------------------------------
    spec-helper rpm                       `rpm -qi spec-helper`


All official stable kernel releases from 2.4.0 and up are supported;
"prerelease" versions such as "2.4.3-pre2" are not supported, nor are
development series kernels such as 2.3.x or 2.5.x. The Linux kernel can be
downloaded from http://www.kernel.org or one of its mirrors.

binutils and gcc can be retrieved from http://www.gnu.org or one of its
mirrors.

If you are using XFree86, but do not have a file '/var/log/XFree86.0.log',
then you probably have a 3.x version of XFree86 and must upgrade.

If you are setting up XFree86 4.x for the first time, it is often easier to
begin with one of the open source drivers that ships with XFree86 (either
"nv", "vga" or "vesa"). Once XFree86 is operating properly with the open
source driver, you may then switch to the NVIDIA driver.

Note that newer NVIDIA GPUs may not work with older versions of the "nv"
driver shipped with XFree86. For example, the "nv" driver that shipped with
XFree86 version 4.0.1 did not recognize the GeForce2 family and the Quadro2
MXR GPUs. This was fixed in XFree86 version 4.0.2. XFree86 can be retrieved
from http://www.xfree86.org.

These software packages may also be available through your Linux distributor.

______________________________________________________________________________

Appendix C. Installed Components
______________________________________________________________________________

The NVIDIA Accelerated Linux Driver Set consists of the following components
(filenames in parenthesis are the full names of the components after
installation; "x.y.z" denotes the current version. In these cases appropriate
symlinks are created during installation):

   o Two X drivers (/usr/X11R6/lib/modules/drivers/nvidia_drv.o and
     /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/drivers/nvidia_drv.so); one of these drivers is
     needed by the X server to use your NVIDIA hardware. The nvidia_drv.o
     driver is binary compatible with XFree86 4.0.1 and greater, as well as
     the Xorg X server. The nvidia_drv.so driver is compatible with Xorg 6.8
     and greater with "dlloader" support.

   o A GLX extension module for X
     (/usr/X11R6/lib/modules/extensions/libglx.so.x.y.z); this module is used
     by the X server to provide server-side GLX support.

   o An OpenGL library (/usr/lib/libGL.so.x.y.z); this library provides the
     API entry points for all OpenGL and GLX function calls. It is linked to
     at run-time by OpenGL applications.

   o An OpenGL core library (/usr/lib/libGLcore.so.x.y.z); this library is
     implicitly used by libGL and by libglx. It contains the core accelerated
     3D functionality. You should not explicitly load it in your X config file
     -- that is taken care of by libglx.

   o Two XvMC (X-Video Motion Compensation) libraries: a static library and a
     shared library (/usr/X11R6/lib/libXvMCNVIDIA.a,
     /usr/X11R6/lib/libXvMCNVIDIA.so.x.y.z); please see Appendix N for
     details.

   o A kernel module (/lib/modules/`uname -r`/video/nvidia.o or
     /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/video/nvidia.o); this kernel
     module provides low-level access to your NVIDIA hardware for all of the
     above components. It is generally loaded into the kernel when the X
     server is started, and is used by the X driver and OpenGL. nvidia.o
     consists of two pieces: the binary-only core, and a kernel interface that
     must be compiled specifically for your kernel version. Note that the
     Linux kernel does not have a consistent binary interface like the X
     server, so it is important that this kernel interface be matched with the
     version of the kernel that you are using. This can either be accomplished
     by compiling yourself, or using precompiled binaries provided for the
     kernels shipped with some of the more common Linux distributions.

   o OpenGL and GLX header files (/usr/include/GL/gl.h,
     /usr/include/GL/glext.h, /usr/include/GL/glx.h, and
     /usr/include/GL/glext.h); these are also installed in
     /usr/share/doc/NVIDIA_GLX-1.0/include/GL/. You can request that these
     files not be included in /usr/include/GL/ by passing the
     "--no-opengl-headers" option to the .run file during installation.

   o The nvidia-tls libraries (/usr/lib/libnvidia-tls.so.x.y.z and
     /usr/lib/tls/libnvidia-tls.so.x.y.z); these files provide thread local
     storage support for the NVIDIA OpenGL libraries (libGL, libGLcore, and
     libglx). Each nvidia-tls library provides support for a particular thread
     local storage model (such as ELF TLS), and the one appropriate for your
     system will be loaded at run time.

   o The application nvidia-installer (/usr/bin/nvidia-installer) is NVIDIA's
     tool for installing and updating NVIDIA drivers. Please see Chapter 2 for
     a more thorough description.


Problems will arise if applications use the wrong version of a library. This
can be the case if there are either old libGL libraries or stale symlinks left
lying around. If you think there may be something awry in your installation,
check that the following files are in place (these are all the files of the
NVIDIA Accelerated Linux Driver Set, as well as their symlinks):

    /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/drivers/nvidia_drv.o

    /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/extensions/libglx.so.x.y.z
    /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/extensions/libglx.so -> libglx.so.x.y.z

    /usr/lib/libGL.so.x.y.z
    /usr/lib/libGL.so.x -> libGL.so.x.y.z
    /usr/lib/libGL.so -> libGL.so.x

    /usr/lib/libGLcore.so.x.y.z
    /usr/lib/libGLcore.so.x -> libGLcore.so.x.y.z

    /lib/modules/`uname -r`/video/nvidia.o, or
    /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/video/nvidia.o

If there are other libraries whose "soname" conflicts with that of the NVIDIA
libraries, ldconfig may create the wrong symlinks. It is recommended that you
manually remove or rename conflicting libraries (be sure to rename clashing
libraries to something that ldconfig will not look at -- we have found that
prepending "XXX" to a library name generally does the trick), rerun
'ldconfig', and check that the correct symlinks were made. Some libraries that
often create conflicts are "/usr/X11R6/lib/libGL.so*" and
"/usr/X11R6/lib/libGLcore.so*".

If the libraries appear to be correct, then verify that the application is
using the correct libraries. For example, to check that the application
/usr/X11R6/bin/glxgears is using the NVIDIA libraries, run:

    % ldd /usr/X11R6/bin/glxgears
        linux-gate.so.1 =>  (0xffffe000)
        libGL.so.1 => /usr/lib/libGL.so.1 (0xb7ed3000)
        libXp.so.6 => /usr/lib/libXp.so.6 (0xb7eca000)
        libXext.so.6 => /usr/lib/libXext.so.6 (0xb7eb9000)
        libX11.so.6 => /usr/lib/libX11.so.6 (0xb7dd4000)
        libpthread.so.0 => /lib/libpthread.so.0 (0xb7d82000)
        libm.so.6 => /lib/libm.so.6 (0xb7d5f000)
        libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0xb7c47000)
        libGLcore.so.1 => /usr/lib/libGLcore.so.1 (0xb6c2f000)
        libnvidia-tls.so.1 => /usr/lib/tls/libnvidia-tls.so.1 (0xb6c2d000)
        libdl.so.2 => /lib/libdl.so.2 (0xb6c29000)
        /lib/ld-linux.so.2 (0xb7fb2000)

Check the files being used for libGL and libGLcore -- if they are something
other than the NVIDIA libraries, then you will need to either remove the
libraries that are getting in the way, or adjust your ld search path using the
'LD_LIBRARY_PATH' environment variable. You may wish to consult the man pages
for 'ldconfig' and 'ldd'.

______________________________________________________________________________

Appendix D. X Config Options
______________________________________________________________________________

The following driver options are supported by the NVIDIA X driver. They may be
specified either in the Screen or Device sections of the X config file.

X Config Options

Option "NvAGP" "integer"

    Configure AGP support. Integer argument can be one of:
    
        Value             Behavior
        --------------    ---------------------------------------------------
        0                 disable AGP
        1                 use NVIDIA's internal AGP support, if possible
        2                 use AGPGART, if possible
        3                 use any AGP support (try AGPGART, then NVIDIA's
                          AGP)
    
    Please note that NVIDIA's internal AGP support cannot work if AGPGART is
    either statically compiled into your kernel or is built as a module and
    loaded into your kernel. Please see Appendix F for details. Default: 3.

Option "NoLogo" "boolean"

    Disable drawing of the NVIDIA logo splash screen at X startup. Default:
    the logo is drawn.

Option "RenderAccel" "boolean"

    Enable or disable hardware acceleration of the RENDER extension. THIS
    OPTION IS EXPERIMENTAL. ENABLE IT AT YOUR OWN RISK. Default: hardware
    acceleration of the RENDER extension is disabled.

Option "NoRenderExtension" "boolean"

    Disable the RENDER extension. Other than recompiling it, the X server does
    not seem to have another way of disabling this. Fortunately, we can
    control this from the driver so we export this option. This is useful in
    depth 8 where RENDER would normally steal most of the default colormap.
    Default: RENDER is offered when possible.

Option "UBB" "boolean"

    Enable or disable the Unified Back Buffer on Quadro-based GPUs (Quadro4
    NVS excluded); please see Appendix K for a description of UBB. This option
    has no effect on non-Quadro chipsets. Default: UBB is on for Quadro
    chipsets.

Option "NoFlip" "boolean"

    Disable OpenGL flipping; please see Appendix K for a description. Default:
    OpenGL will swap by flipping when possible.

Option "DigitalVibrance" "integer"

    Enables Digital Vibrance Control. The range of valid values are 0 through
    255. This feature is not available on products older than GeForce2.
    Default: 0.

Option "Dac8Bit" "boolean"

    Most Quadro products by default use a 10-bit color look-up table (LUT);
    setting this option to TRUE forces these graphics chips to use an 8-bit
    (LUT). Default: a 10-bit LUT is used, when available.

Option "Overlay" "boolean"

    Enables RGB workstation overlay visuals. This is only supported on Quadro4
    and Quadro FX chips (Quadro4 NVS excluded) in depth 24. This option causes
    the server to advertise the SERVER_OVERLAY_VISUALS root window property
    and GLX will report single- and double-buffered, Z-buffered 16-bit overlay
    visuals. The transparency key is pixel 0x0000 (hex). There is no gamma
    correction support in the overlay plane. This feature requires XFree86
    version 4.1.0 or newer, or the Xorg X server. Quadros 500 and 550 XGL have
    additional restrictions, namely, overlays are not supported in TwinView
    mode or with virtual desktops wider than 2046 pixels or taller than 2047.
    Quadro 7xx/9xx and Quadro FX will offer overlay visuals in these modes
    (TwinView, or virtual desktops larger than 2046x2047), but the overlay
    will be emulated with a substantial performance penalty. RGB workstation
    overlays are not supported when the Composite extension is enabled.
    Default: off.

    UBB must be enabled when overlays are enabled (this is the default
    behavior).

Option "CIOverlay" "boolean"

    Enables Color Index workstation overlay visuals with identical
    restrictions to Option "Overlay" above. The server will offer visuals both
    with and without a transparency key. These are depth 8 PseudoColor
    visuals. Enabling Color Index overlays on X servers older than XFree86 4.3
    will force the RENDER extension to be disabled due to bugs in the RENDER
    extension in older X servers. Color Index workstation overlays are not
    supported when the Composite extension is enabled. Default: off.

    UBB must be enabled when overlays are enabled (this is the default
    behavior).

Option "TransparentIndex" "integer"

    When color index overlays are enabled, use this option to choose which
    pixel is used for the transparent pixel in visuals featuring transparent
    pixels. This value is clamped between 0 and 255 (Note: some applications
    such as Alias's Maya require this to be zero in order to work correctly).
    Default: 0.

Option "OverlayDefaultVisual" "boolean"

    When overlays are used, this option sets the default visual to an overlay
    visual thereby putting the root window in the overlay. This option is not
    recommended for RGB overlays. Default: off.

Option "RandRRotation" "boolean"

    Enable rotation support for the XRandR extension. This allows use of the
    XRandR X server extension for configuring the screen orientation through
    rotation. This feature is supported on GeForce2 or better hardware using
    depth 24. This requires an Xorg X 6.8.1 or newer X server. This feature
    does not work with hardware overlays, and emulated overlays will be used
    instead at a substantial performance penalty. See Appendix U for details.
    Default: off.

Option "Rotate" "string"

    Enable static rotation support. Unlike the RandRRotation option above,
    this option takes effect as soon as the X server is started and will work
    with older versions of X. This feature is supported on GeForce2 or better
    hardware using depth 24. This feature does not work with hardware
    overlays, and emulated overlays will be used instead at a substantial
    performance penalty. This option is not compatible with the RandR
    extension. Valid rotations are "normal", "left", "inverted", and "right".
    Default: off.

Option "AllowDDCCI" "boolean"

    Enables DDC/CI support in the NV-CONTROL X extension. DDC/CI is a
    mechanism for communication between your computer and your display device.
    This can be used to set the values normally controlled through your
    display device's On Screen Display. Please see the DDC/CI NV-CONTROL
    attributes in 'NVCtrl.h' and functions in 'NVCtrlLib.h' in the
    'nvidia-settings' source code. Default: off (DDC/CI is disabled).

Option "SWCursor" "boolean"

    Enable or disable software rendering of the X cursor. Default: off.

Option "HWCursor" "boolean"

    Enable or disable hardware rendering of the X cursor. Default: on.

Option "CursorShadow" "boolean"

    Enable or disable use of a shadow with the hardware accelerated cursor;
    this is a black translucent replica of your cursor shape at a given offset
    from the real cursor. Default: off (no cursor shadow).

Option "CursorShadowAlpha" "integer"

    The alpha value to use for the cursor shadow; only applicable if
    CursorShadow is enabled. This value must be in the range [0, 255] -- 0 is
    completely transparent; 255 is completely opaque. Default: 64.

Option "CursorShadowXOffset" "integer"

    The offset, in pixels, that the shadow image will be shifted to the right
    from the real cursor image; only applicable if CursorShadow is enabled.
    This value must be in the range [0, 32]. Default: 4.

Option "CursorShadowYOffset" "integer"

    The offset, in pixels, that the shadow image will be shifted down from the
    real cursor image; only applicable if CursorShadow is enabled. This value
    must be in the range [0, 32]. Default: 2.

Option "ConnectedMonitor" "string"

    Allows you to override what the NVIDIA kernel module detects is connected
    to your video card. This may be useful, for example, if you use a KVM
    (keyboard, video, mouse) switch and you are switched away when X is
    started. In such a situation, the NVIDIA kernel module cannot detect what
    display devices are connected, and the NVIDIA X driver assumes you have a
    single CRT.

    Valid values for this option are "CRT" (cathode ray tube), "DFP" (digital
    flat panel), or "TV" (television); if using TwinView, this option may be a
    comma-separated list of display devices; e.g.: "CRT, CRT" or "CRT, DFP".

    NOTE: anything attached to a 15 pin VGA connector is regarded by the
    driver as a CRT. "DFP" should only be used to refer to digital flat panels
    connected via a DVI port.

    Default: string is NULL (the NVIDIA driver will detect the connected
    display devices).

Option "UseEdidFreqs" "boolean"

    This option controls whether the NVIDIA X driver will use the HorizSync
    and VertRefresh ranges given in a display device's EDID, if any. When
    UseEdidFreqs is set to True, EDID-provided range information will override
    the HorizSync and VertRefresh ranges specified in the Monitor section. If
    a display device does not provide an EDID, or the EDID does not specify an
    hsync or vrefresh range, then the X server will default to the HorizSync
    and VertRefresh ranges specified in the Monitor section of your X config
    file. These frequency ranges are used when validating modes for your
    display device.

    Default: True (EDID frequencies will be used)

Option "IgnoreEDID" "boolean"

    Disable probing of EDID (Extended Display Identification Data) from your
    monitor. Requested modes are compared against values gotten from your
    monitor EDID (if any) during mode validation. Some monitors are known to
    lie about their own capabilities. Ignoring the values that the monitor
    gives may help get a certain mode validated. On the other hand, this may
    be dangerous if you do not know what you are doing. Default: false (use
    EDID).

Option "NoDDC" "boolean"

    Synonym for "IgnoreEDID"

Option "FlatPanelProperties" "string"

    Requests particular properties of any connected flat panels as a
    comma-separated list of property=value pairs. Currently, the only two
    available properties are 'Scaling' and 'Dithering'. The possible values
    for 'Scaling' are: 'default' (the driver will use whatever scaling state
    is current), 'native' (the driver will use the flat panel's scaler, if it
    has one), 'scaled' (the driver will use the NVIDIA scaler, if possible),
    'centered' (the driver will center the image, if possible), and
    'aspect-scaled' (the driver will scale with the NVIDIA scaler, but keep
    the aspect ratio correct). The possible values for 'Dithering' are:
    'default' (the driver will decide when to dither), 'enabled' (the driver
    will always dither when possible), and 'disabled' (the driver will never
    dither). If any property is not specified, its value is 'default'. An
    example properties string might look like:
    
    "Scaling = centered, Dithering = enabled"
    
    
Option "UseInt10Module" "boolean"

    Enable use of the X Int10 module to soft-boot all secondary cards, rather
    than POSTing the cards through the NVIDIA kernel module. Default: off
    (POSTing is done through the NVIDIA kernel module).

Option "TwinView" "boolean"

    Enable or disable TwinView. Please see Appendix G for details. Default:
    off (TwinView is disabled).

Option "TwinViewOrientation" "string"

    Controls the relationship between the two display devices when using
    TwinView. Takes one of the following values: "RightOf" "LeftOf" "Above"
    "Below" "Clone". Please see Appendix G for details. Default: string is
    NULL.

Option "SecondMonitorHorizSync" "range(s)"

    This option is like the HorizSync entry in the Monitor section, but is for
    the second monitor when using TwinView. Please see Appendix G for details.
    Default: none.

Option "SecondMonitorVertRefresh" "range(s)"

    This option is like the VertRefresh entry in the Monitor section, but is
    for the second monitor when using TwinView. Please see Appendix G for
    details. Default: none.

Option "MetaModes" "string"

    This option describes the combination of modes to use on each monitor when
    using TwinView. Please see Appendix G for details. Default: string is
    NULL.

Option "NoTwinViewXineramaInfo" "boolean"

    When in TwinView, the NVIDIA X driver normally provides a Xinerama
    extension that X clients (such as window managers) can use to discover the
    current TwinView configuration. Some window mangers get confused by this
    information, so this option is provided to disable this behavior. Default:
    false (TwinView Xinerama information is provided).

Option "TVStandard" "string"

    Please see Appendix H for details on configuring TV-out.

Option "TVOutFormat" "string"

    Please see Appendix H for details on configuring TV-out.

Option "TVOverScan" "Decimal value in the range 0.0 to 1.0"

    Valid values are in the range 0.0 through 1.0; Please see Appendix H for
    details on configuring TV-out.

Option "Stereo" "integer"

    Enable offering of quad-buffered stereo visuals on Quadro. Integer
    indicates the type of stereo equipment being used:
    
        Value             Equipment
        --------------    ---------------------------------------------------
        1                 DDC glasses. The sync signal is sent to the
                          glasses via the DDC signal to the monitor. These
                          usually involve a passthrough cable between the
                          monitor and video card.
        2                 "Blueline" glasses. These usually involve a
                          passthrough cable between the monitor and video
                          card. The glasses know which eye to display based
                          on the length of a blue line visible at the bottom
                          of the screen. When in this mode, the root window
                          dimensions are one pixel shorter in the Y
                          dimension than requested. This mode does not work
                          with virtual root window sizes larger than the
                          visible root window size (desktop panning).
        3                 Onboard stereo support. This is usually only found
                          on professional cards. The glasses connect via a
                          DIN connector on the back of the video card.
        4                 TwinView clone mode stereo (aka "passive" stereo).
                          On video cards that support TwinView, the left eye
                          is displayed on the first display, and the right
                          eye is displayed on the second display. This is
                          normally used in conjunction with special
                          projectors to produce 2 polarized images which are
                          then viewed with polarized glasses. To use this
                          stereo mode, you must also configure TwinView in
                          clone mode with the same resolution, panning
                          offset, and panning domains on each display.
        5                 Vertical interlaced stereo mode, for use with
                          SeeReal Stereo Digital Flat Panels.
        6                 Color interleaved stereo mode, for use with
                          Sharp3D Stereo Digital Flat Panels.
    
    Stereo is only available on Quadro cards. Stereo options 1, 2, and 3 (aka
    "active" stereo) may be used with TwinView if all modes within each
    metamode have identical timing values. Please see Appendix J for
    suggestions on making sure the modes within your metamodes are identical.
    The identical modeline requirement is not necessary for Stereo option 4
    ("passive" stereo). Currently, stereo operation may be "quirky" on the
    original Quadro (NV10) chip and left-right flipping may be erratic. We are
    trying to resolve this issue for a future release. Default: 0 (Stereo is
    not enabled).

    UBB must be enabled when stereo is enabled (this is the default behavior).

    Stereo options 1, 2, and 3 (aka "active" stereo) are not supported on
    digital flat panels.

Option "AllowDFPStereo" "boolean"

    By default, the NVIDIA X driver performs a check which disables active
    stereo (stereo options 1, 2, and 3) if the X screen is driving a DFP. The
    "AllowDFPStereo" option bypasses this check.

Option "ForceStereoFlipping" "boolean"

    Stereo flipping is the process by which left and right eyes are displayed
    on alternating vertical refreshes. Normally, stereo flipping is only
    performed when a stereo drawable is visible. This option forces stereo
    flipping even when no stereo drawables are visible.

    This is to be used in conjunction with the "Stereo" option. If "Stereo" is
    0, the "ForceStereoFlipping" option has no effect. If otherwise, the
    "ForceStereoFlipping" option will force the behavior indicated by the
    "Stereo" option, even if no stereo drawables are visible. This option is
    useful in a multiple-screen environment in which a stereo application is
    run on a different screen than the stereo master.

    Possible values:
    
        Value             Behavior
        --------------    ---------------------------------------------------
        0                 Stereo flipping is not forced. The default
                          behavior as indicated by the "Stereo" option is
                          used.
        1                 Stereo flipping is forced. Stereo is running even
                          if no stereo drawables are visible. The stereo
                          mode depends on the value of the "Stereo" option.
    
    Default: 0 (Stereo flipping is not forced). Note that active stereo is not
    supported on digital flat panels.

Option "XineramaStereoFlipping" "boolean"

    By default, when using Stereo with Xinerama, all physical X screens having
    a visible stereo drawable will stereo flip. Use this option to allow only
    one physical X screen to stereo flip at a time.

    This is to be used in conjunction with the "Stereo" and "Xinerama"
    options. If "Stereo" is 0 or "Xinerama" is 0, the "XineramaStereoFlipping"
    option has no effect.

    If you wish to have all X screens stereo flip all the time, please see the
    "ForceStereoFlipping" option.

    Possible values:
    
        Value             Behavior
        --------------    ---------------------------------------------------
        0                 Stereo flipping is enabled on one X screen at a
                          time. Stereo is enabled on the first X screen
                          having the stereo drawable.
        1                 Stereo flipping in enabled on all X screens.
    
    Default: 1 (Stereo flipping is enabled on all X screens).

Option "NoBandWidthTest" "boolean"

    As part of mode validation, the X driver tests if a given mode fits within
    the hardware's memory bandwidth constraints. This option disables this
    test. Default: false (the memory bandwidth test is performed).

Option "IgnoreDisplayDevices" "string"

    This option tells the NVIDIA kernel module to completely ignore the
    indicated classes of display devices when checking what display devices
    are connected. You may specify a comma-separated list containing any of
    "CRT", "DFP", and "TV". For example:
    
    Option "IgnoreDisplayDevices" "DFP, TV"
    
    will cause the NVIDIA driver to not attempt to detect if any digital flat
    panels or TVs are connected. This option is not normally necessary;
    however, some video BIOSes contain incorrect information about what
    display devices may be connected, or what i2c port should be used for
    detection. These errors can cause long delays in starting X. If you are
    experiencing such delays, you may be able to avoid this by telling the
    NVIDIA driver to ignore display devices which you know are not connected.
    NOTE: anything attached to a 15 pin VGA connector is regarded by the
    driver as a CRT. "DFP" should only be used to refer to digital flat panels
    connected via a DVI port.

Option "MultisampleCompatibility" "boolean"

    Enable or disable the use of separate front and back multisample buffers.
    Enabling this will consume more memory but is necessary for correct output
    when rendering to both the front and back buffers of a multisample or FSAA
    drawable. This option is necessary for correct operation of SoftImage XSI.
    Default: false (a single multisample buffer is shared between the front
    and back buffers).

Option "NoPowerConnectorCheck" "boolean"

    The NVIDIA X driver will abort X server initialization if it detects that
    a GPU that requires an external power connector does not have an external
    power connector plugged in. This option can be used to bypass this test.
    Default: false (the power connector test is performed).

Option "XvmcUsesTextures" "boolean"

    Forces XvMC to use the 3D engine for XvMCPutSurface requests rather than
    the video overlay. Default: false (video overlay is used when available).

Option "AllowGLXWithComposite" "boolean"

    Enables GLX even when the Composite X extension is loaded. ENABLE AT YOUR
    OWN RISK. OpenGL applications will not display correctly in many
    circumstances with this setting enabled. Default: false (GLX is disabled
    when Composite is loaded).

Option "ExactModeTimingsDVI" "boolean"

    Forces the initialization of the X server with the exact timings specified
    in the ModeLine. Default: false (for DVI devices, the X server initializes
    with the closest mode in the EDID list).

Option "Coolbits" "integer"

    Enables support in the NV-CONTROL X extension for manipulating GPU clock
    settings. When this option is set to "1" the nvidia-settings utility will
    contain a page labeled "Clock Frequencies" through which clock settings
    can be manipulated. Coolbits is only available on GeForce FX, Quadro FX,
    and newer GPUs. Default 0 (support is disabled).

    WARNING: this may cause system damage and void warranties. This utility
    can run your computer system out of the manufacturer's design
    specifications, including, but not limited to: higher system voltages,
    above normal temperatures, excessive frequencies, and changes to BIOS that
    may corrupt the BIOS. Your computer's operating system may hang and result
    in data loss or corrupted images. Depending on the manufacturer of your
    computer system, the computer system, hardware and software warranties may
    be voided, and you may not receive any further manufacturer support.
    NVIDIA does not provide customer service support for the Coolbits option.
    It is for these reasons that absolutely no warranty or guarantee is either
    express or implied. Before enabling and using, you should determine the
    suitability of the utility for your intended use, and you shall assume all
    responsibility in connection therewith.

Option "SLI" "string"

    This option controls the configuration of SLI rendering in supported
    configurations.
    
        Value                               Behavior
        --------------------------------    --------------------------------
        0, no, off, false, Single           Use only a single GPU when
                                            rendering
        1, yes, on, true, Auto              Enable SLI and allow the driver
                                            to automatically select the
                                            appropriate rendering mode.
        AFR                                 Enable SLI and use the alternate
                                            frame rendering mode.
        SFR                                 Enable SLI and use the split
                                            frame rendering mode.
        SLIAA                               Enable SLI and use SLI
                                            antialiasing. Use this in
                                            conjunction with full scene
                                            antialiasing to improve visual
                                            quality.
    
    
Option "DPI" "string"

    This option specifies the Dots Per Inch for the X screen; for example:
    
        Option "DPI" "75 x 85"
    
    will set the horizontal DPI to 75 and the vertical DPI to 85. By default,
    the X driver will compute the DPI of the X screen from the EDID of any
    connected display devices. See Appendix Y for details. Default: string is
    NULL (disabled).

Option "UseEdidDpi" "string"

    By default, the NVIDIA X driver computes the DPI of an X screen based on
    the physical size of the display device, as reported in the EDID. If
    multiple display devices are used by the X screen, then the NVIDIA X
    screen will choose which display device to use. This option can be used to
    specify which display device to use. The string argument can be a display
    device name, such as:
    
        Option "UseEdidDpi" "DFP-0"
    
    or the argument can be "FALSE" to disable use of EDID-based DPI
    calculations:
    
        Option "UseEdidDpi" "FALSE"
    
    See Appendix Y for details. Default: string is NULL (the driver computes
    the DPI from the EDID of a display device and selects the display device).

Option "LoadKernelModule" "boolean"

    Normally, the NVIDIA Linux X driver module will attempt to load the NVIDIA
    Linux kernel module. Set this option to "off" to disable automatic loading
    of the NVIDIA kernel module by the NVIDIA X driver. Default: on (the
    driver loads the kernel module).


______________________________________________________________________________

Appendix E. OpenGL Environment Variable Settings
______________________________________________________________________________

FULL SCENE ANTIALIASING

Antialiasing is a technique used to smooth the edges of objects in a scene to
reduce the jagged "stairstep" effect that sometimes appears. Full-scene
antialiasing is supported on GeForce or newer hardware. By setting the
appropriate environment variable, you can enable full-scene antialiasing in
any OpenGL application on these GPUs.

Several antialiasing methods are available and you can select between them by
setting the __GL_FSAA_MODE environment variable appropriately. Note that
increasing the number of samples taken during FSAA rendering may decrease
performance.

The following tables describe the possible values for __GL_FSAA_MODE and the
effects that they have on various NVIDIA GPUs.



    __GL_FSAA_MODE     GeForce, GeForce2, Quadro, and Quadro2 Pro
    ---------------    ------------------------------------------------------
    0                  FSAA disabled
    1                  FSAA disabled
    2                  FSAA disabled
    3                  1.5 x 1.5 Supersampling
    4                  2 x 2 Supersampling
    5                  FSAA disabled
    6                  FSAA disabled
    7                  FSAA disabled




    __GL_FSAA_MODE     GeForce4 MX, GeForce4 4xx Go, Quadro4 380,550,580
                       XGL, and Quadro4 NVS
    ---------------    ------------------------------------------------------
    0                  FSAA disabled
    1                  2x Bilinear Multisampling
    2                  2x Quincunx Multisampling
    3                  FSAA disabled
    4                  2 x 2 Supersampling
    5                  FSAA disabled
    6                  FSAA disabled
    7                  FSAA disabled




    __GL_FSAA_MODE     GeForce3, Quadro DCC, GeForce4 Ti, GeForce4 4200 Go,
                       and Quadro4 700,750,780,900,980 XGL
    ---------------    ------------------------------------------------------
    0                  FSAA disabled
    1                  2x Bilinear Multisampling
    2                  2x Quincunx Multisampling
    3                  FSAA disabled
    4                  4x Bilinear Multisampling
    5                  4x Gaussian Multisampling
    6                  2x Bilinear Multisampling by 4x Supersampling
    7                  FSAA disabled




    __GL_FSAA_MODE     GeForce FX, GeForce 6xxx, GeForce 7xxx, Quadro FX
    ---------------    ------------------------------------------------------
    0                  FSAA disabled
    1                  2x Bilinear Multisampling
    2                  2x Quincunx Multisampling
    3                  FSAA disabled
    4                  4x Bilinear Multisampling
    5                  4x Gaussian Multisampling
    6                  2x Bilinear Multisampling by 4x Supersampling
    7                  4x Bilinear Multisampling by 4x Supersampling
    8                  4x Bilinear Multisampling by 2x Supersampling
                       (available on GeForce FX and later GPUS; not
                       available on Quadro GPUs)


ANISOTROPIC TEXTURE FILTERING

Automatic anisotropic texture filtering can be enabled by setting the
environment variable __GL_LOG_MAX_ANISO. The possible values are:

    __GL_LOG_MAX_ANISO                    Filtering Type
    ----------------------------------    ----------------------------------
    0                                     No anisotropic filtering
    1                                     2x anisotropic filtering
    2                                     4x anisotropic filtering
    3                                     8x anisotropic filtering
    4                                     16x anisotropic filtering

4x and greater are only available on GeForce3 or newer GPUS; 16x is only
available on GeForce 6800 or newer GPUs.

VBLANK SYNCING

Setting the environment variable __GL_SYNC_TO_VBLANK to a non-zero value will
force glXSwapBuffers to sync to your monitor's vertical refresh (perform a
swap only during the vertical blanking period).

When using __GL_SYNC_TO_VBLANK with TwinView, OpenGL can only sync to one of
the display devices; this may cause tearing corruption on the display device
to which OpenGL is not syncing. You can use the environment variable
__GL_SYNC_DISPLAY_DEVICE to specify to which display device OpenGL should
sync. You should set this environment variable to the name of a display
device; for example "CRT-1". Please look for the line "Connected display
device(s):" in your X log file for a list of the display devices present and
their names. You may also find it useful to review Appendix G (Configuring
Twinview) and the section on Ensuring Identical Mode Timings in Appendix J.

DISABLING CPU-SPECIFIC FEATURES

Setting the environment variable __GL_FORCE_GENERIC_CPU to a non-zero value
will inhibit the use of CPU-specific features such as MMX, SSE, or 3DNOW!. Use
of this option may result in performance loss. This option may be useful in
conjunction with software such as the Valgrind memory debugger.

______________________________________________________________________________

Appendix F. Configuring AGP
______________________________________________________________________________

There are several choices for configuring the NVIDIA kernel module's use of
AGP: you can choose to either use NVIDIA's AGP module (NVAGP), or the AGP
module that comes with the Linux kernel (AGPGART). This is controlled through
the "NvAGP" option in your X config file:

    Option "NvAgp" "0"  ... disables AGP support
    Option "NvAgp" "1"  ... use NVAGP, if possible
    Option "NvAgp" "2"  ... use AGPGART, if possible
    Option "NvAGP" "3"  ... try AGPGART; if that fails, try NVAGP

The default is 3 (the default was 1 until after 1.0-1251).

You should use the AGP module that works best with your AGP chip set. If you
are experiencing problems with stability, you may want to start by disabling
AGP and seeing if that solves the problems. Then you can experiment with
either of the other AGP modules.

You can query the current AGP status at any time via the /proc filesystem
interface (see Appendix M).

To use the Linux AGPGART driver, it will need to be compiled with your kernel,
either statically linked in, or built as a module. NVIDIA AGP support cannot
be used if AGPGART is loaded in the kernel. It is recommended that you compile
AGPGART as a module and make sure that it is not loaded when trying to use
NVIDIA AGP. Please also note that changing AGP drivers generally requires a
reboot before the changes actually take effect.

The following AGP chipsets are supported by NVIDIA's AGP driver; for all other
chipsets it is recommended that you use the AGPGART module.

    Supported AGP Chipsets
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------
    Intel 440LX
    Intel 440BX
    Intel 440GX
    Intel 815 ("Solano")
    Intel 820 ("Camino")
    Intel 830M
    Intel 840 ("Carmel")
    Intel 845 ("Brookdale")
    Intel 845G
    Intel 850 ("Tehama")
    Intel 855 ("Odem")
    Intel 860 ("Colusa")
    Intel 865G ("Springdale")
    Intel 875P ("Canterwood")
    Intel E7205 ("Granite Bay")
    Intel E7505 ("Placer")
    AMD 751 ("Irongate")
    AMD 761 ("IGD4")
    AMD 762 ("IGD4 MP")
    AMD 8151 ("Lokar")
    VIA 8371
    VIA 82C694X
    VIA KT133
    VIA KT266
    VIA KT400
    VIA P4M266
    VIA P4M266A
    VIA P4X400
    VIA K8T800
    VIA K8N800
    VIA PT880
    VIA KT880
    RCC CNB20LE
    RCC 6585HE
    Micron SAMDDR ("Samurai")
    Micron SCIDDR ("Scimitar")
    NVIDIA nForce
    NVIDIA nForce2
    NVIDIA nForce3
    ALi 1621
    ALi 1631
    ALi 1647
    ALi 1651
    ALi 1671
    SiS 630
    SiS 633
    SiS 635
    SiS 645
    SiS 646
    SiS 648
    SiS 648FX
    SiS 650
    SiS 651
    SiS 655
    SiS 655FX
    SiS 661
    SiS 730
    SiS 733
    SiS 735
    SiS 745
    SiS 755
    ATI RS200M


If you are experiencing AGP stability problems, you should be aware of the
following:

Additional AGP Information

Support for the processor's Page Size Extension on Athlon Processors

    Some Linux kernels have a conflicting cache attribute bug that is exposed
    by advanced speculative caching in newer AMD Athlon family processors (AMD
    Athlon XP, AMD Athlon 4, AMD Athlon MP, and Models 6 and above AMD Duron).
    This kernel bug usually shows up under heavy use of accelerated 3D
    graphics with an AGP graphics card.

    Linux distributions based on kernel 2.4.19 and later *should* incorporate
    the bug fix, but older kernels require help from the user in ensuring that
    a small portion of advanced speculative caching is disabled (normally done
    through a kernel patch) and a boot option is specified in order to apply
    the whole fix.

    NVIDIA's driver automatically disables the small portion of advanced
    speculative caching for the affected AMD processors without the need to
    patch the kernel; it can be used even on kernels which do already
    incorporate the kernel bug fix. Additionally, for older kernels the user
    performs the boot option portion of the fix by explicitly disabling 4MB
    pages. This can be done from the boot command line by specifying:
    
        mem=nopentium
    
    Or by adding the following line to /etc/lilo.conf:
    
        append = "mem=nopentium"
    
    
AGP Rate

    You may want to decrease the AGP rate setting if you are seeing lockups
    with the value you are currently using. You can do so by extracting the
    '.run' file:
    
        # sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-8178-pkg1.run --extract-only
        # cd NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-8178-pkg1/usr/src/nv/
    
    Then edit os-registry.c, and make the following changes:
    
        - static int NVreg_ReqAGPRate = 15;
        + static int NVreg_ReqAGPRate = 4;   /* force AGP Rate to 4x */
    
    or
    
        + static int NVreg_ReqAGPRate = 2;   /* force AGP Rate to 2x */
    
    or
    
        + static int NVreg_ReqAGPRate = 1;   /* force AGP Rate to 1x */
    
    and enable the "ReqAGPRate" parameter:
    
        - { NULL, "ReqAGPRate",     &NVreg_ReqAGPRate,      0 },
        + { NULL, "ReqAGPRate",     &NVreg_ReqAGPRate,      1 },
    
    Then recompile and load the new kernel module. To do this, run
    'nvidia-installer' with the -n command line option:
    
        # cd ../../..; ./nvidia-installer -n
    
    
AGP drive strength BIOS setting (Via-based motherboards)

    Many Via-based motherboards allow adjusting the AGP drive strength in the
    system BIOS. The setting of this option largely affects system stability,
    the range between 0xEA and 0xEE seems to work best for NVIDIA hardware.
    Setting either nibble to 0xF generally results in severe stability
    problems.

    If you decide to experiment with this, you need to be aware of the fact
    that you are doing so at your own risk and that you may render your system
    unbootable with improper settings until you reset the setting to a working
    value (w/ a PCI graphics card or by resetting the BIOS to its default
    values).

System BIOS version

    Make sure you have the latest system BIOS provided by the motherboard
    manufacturer.

    On ALi1541 and ALi1647 chipsets, NVIDIA drivers disable AGP to work around
    timing and signal integrity problems. You can force AGP to be enabled on
    these chipsets by setting NVreg_EnableALiAGP to 1. Note that this may
    cause the system to become unstable.

    Early system BIOS revisions for the ASUS A7V8X-X KT400 motherboard
    misconfigure the chipset when an AGP 2.x graphics card is installed; if X
    hangs on your ASUS KT400 system with either Linux AGPGART or NvAGP enabled
    and the installed graphics card is not an AGP 8x device, make sure that
    you have the latest system BIOS installed.


______________________________________________________________________________

Appendix G. Configuring TwinView
______________________________________________________________________________

The TwinView feature is only supported on NVIDIA GPUs that support
dual-display functionality, such as the GeForce2 MX, GeForce2 Go, Quadro2 MXR,
Quadro2 Go, and any of the GeForce4, Quadro4, GeForce FX, or Quadro FX GPUs.
Please consult with your video card vendor to confirm that TwinView is
supported on your card.

TwinView is a mode of operation where two display devices (digital flat
panels, CRTs, and TVs) can display the contents of a single X screen in any
arbitrary configuration. This method of multiple monitor use has several
distinct advantages over other techniques (such as Xinerama):


   o A single X screen is used. The NVIDIA driver conceals all information
     about multiple display devices from the X server; as far as X is
     concerned, there is only one screen.

   o Both display devices share one frame buffer. Thus, all the the
     functionality present on a single display (e.g. accelerated OpenGL) is
     available with TwinView.

   o No additional overhead is needed to emulate having a single desktop.


If you are interested in using each display device as a separate X screen,
please see Appendix P.

X CONFIG TWINVIEW OPTIONS

To enable TwinView, you must specify the following options in the Device
section of your X Config file:

    Option "TwinView"
    Option "MetaModes"                "<list of metamodes>"

You must also specify either:

    Option "SecondMonitorHorizSync"   "<hsync range(s)>"
    Option "SecondMonitorVertRefresh" "<vrefresh range(s)>"

or:

    Option "HorizSync"                "<hsync range(s)>"
    Option "VertRefresh"              "<vrefresh range(s)>"

You may also use any of the following options, though they are not required:

    Option "TwinViewOrientation"      "<relationship of head 1 to head 0>"
    Option "ConnectedMonitor"         "<list of connected display devices>"

Please see detailed descriptions of each option below.



Detailed Description of Options

TwinView

    This option is required to enable TwinView; without it, all other TwinView
    related options are ignored.

SecondMonitorHorizSync
SecondMonitorVertRefresh

    You specify the constraints of the second monitor through these options.
    The values given should follow the same convention as the "HorizSync" and
    "VertRefresh" entries in the Monitor section. As the XF86Config man page
    explains it: the ranges may be a comma separated list of distinct values
    and/or ranges of values, where a range is given by two distinct values
    separated by a dash. The HorizSync is given in kHz, and the VertRefresh is
    given in Hz.

    These options are normally not needed: by default, the NVIDIA X driver
    retrieves the valid frequency ranges from the display device's EDID (see
    Appendix D for a description of the "UseEdidFreqs" option). The
    SecondMonitor options will override any frequency ranges retrieved from
    the EDID.

HorizSync
VertRefresh

    Which display device is "first" and which is "second" is often unclear.
    For this reason, you may use these options instead of the SecondMonitor
    versions. With these options, you can specify a semicolon-separated list
    of frequency ranges, each optionally prepended with a display device name.
    For example:
    
        Option "HorizSync"   "CRT-0: 50-110;  DFP-0: 40-70"
        Option "VertRefresh" "CRT-0: 60-120;  DFP-0: 60"
    
    Please see Appendix R on Display Device Names for more information.

    These options are normally not needed: by default, the NVIDIA X driver
    retrieves the valid frequency ranges from the display device's EDID (see
    Appendix D for a description of the "UseEdidFreqs" option). The
    "HorizSync" and "VertRefresh" options override any frequency ranges
    retrieved from the EDID or any frequency ranges specified with the
    "SecondMonitorHorizSync" and "SecondMonitorVertRefresh" options.

MetaModes

    A single MetaMode describes what mode should be used on each display
    device at a given time. Multiple MetaModes list the combinations of modes
    and the sequence in which they should be used. When the NVIDIA driver
    tells X what modes are available, it is really the minimal bounding box of
    the MetaMode that is communicated to X, while the "per display device"
    mode is kept internal to the NVIDIA driver. In MetaMode syntax, modes
    within a MetaMode are comma separated, and multiple MetaModes are
    separated by semicolons. For example:
    
        "<mode name 0>, <mode name 1>; <mode name 2>, <mode name 3>"
    
    Where <mode name 0> is the name of the mode to be used on display device 0
    concurrently with <mode name 1> used on display device 1. A mode switch
    will then cause <mode name 2> to be used on display device 0 and <mode
    name 3> to be used on display device 1. Here is a real MetaMode entry from
    the X config sample config file:
    
        Option "MetaModes" "1280x1024,1280x1024; 1024x768,1024x768"
    
    If you want a display device to not be active for a certain MetaMode, you
    can use the mode name "NULL", or simply omit the mode name entirely:
    
        "1600x1200, NULL; NULL, 1024x768"
    
    or
    
        "1600x1200; , 1024x768"
    
    Optionally, mode names can be followed by offset information to control
    the positioning of the display devices within the virtual screen space;
    e.g.:
    
        "1600x1200 +0+0, 1024x768 +1600+0; ..."
    
    Offset descriptions follow the conventions used in the X "-geometry"
    command line option; i.e. both positive and negative offsets are valid,
    though negative offsets are only allowed when a virtual screen size is
    explicitly given in the X config file.

    When no offsets are given for a MetaMode, the offsets will be computed
    following the value of the TwinViewOrientation option (see below). Note
    that if offsets are given for any one of the modes in a single MetaMode,
    then offsets will be expected for all modes within that single MetaMode;
    in such a case offsets will be assumed to be +0+0 when not given.

    When not explicitly given, the virtual screen size will be computed as the
    the bounding box of all MetaMode bounding boxes. MetaModes with a bounding
    box larger than an explicitly given virtual screen size will be discarded.

    A MetaMode string can be further modified with a "Panning Domain"
    specification; e.g.:
    
        "1024x768 @1600x1200, 800x600 @1600x1200"
    
    A panning domain is the area in which a display device's viewport will be
    panned to follow the mouse. Panning actually happens on two levels with
    TwinView: first, an individual display device's viewport will be panned
    within its panning domain, as long as the viewport is contained by the
    bounding box of the MetaMode. Once the mouse leaves the bounding box of
    the MetaMode, the entire MetaMode (i.e. all display devices) will be
    panned to follow the mouse within the virtual screen. Note that individual
    display devices' panning domains default to being clamped to the position
    of the display devices' viewports, thus the default behavior is just that
    viewports remain "locked" together and only perform the second type of
    panning.

    The most beneficial use of panning domains is probably to eliminate dead
    areas -- regions of the virtual screen that are inaccessible due to
    display devices with different resolutions. For example:
    
        "1600x1200, 1024x768"
    
    produces an inaccessible region below the 1024x768 display. Specifying a
    panning domain for the second display device:
    
        "1600x1200, 1024x768 @1024x1200"
    
    provides access to that dead area by allowing you to pan the 1024x768
    viewport up and down in the 1024x1200 panning domain.

    Offsets can be used in conjunction with panning domains to position the
    panning domains in the virtual screen space (note that the offset
    describes the panning domain, and only affects the viewport in that the
    viewport must be contained within the panning domain). For example, the
    following describes two modes, each with a panning domain width of 1900
    pixels, and the second display is positioned below the first:
    
        "1600x1200 @1900x1200 +0+0, 1024x768 @1900x768 +0+1200"
    
    Because it is often unclear which mode within a MetaMode will be used on
    each display device, mode descriptions within a MetaMode can be prepended
    with a display device name. For example:
    
        "CRT-0: 1600x1200,  DFP-0: 1024x768"
    
    If no MetaMode string is specified, then the X driver uses the modes
    listed in the relevant "Display" subsection, attempting to place matching
    modes on each display device.

TwinViewOrientation

    This option controls the positioning of the second display device relative
    to the first within the virtual X screen, when offsets are not explicitly
    given in the MetaModes. The possible values are:
    
        "RightOf"  (the default)
        "LeftOf"
        "Above"
        "Below"
        "Clone"
    
    When "Clone" is specified, both display devices will be assigned an offset
    of 0,0.

    Because it is often unclear which display device is "first" and which is
    "second", TwinViewOrientation can be confusing. You can further clarify
    the TwinViewOrientation with display device names to indicate which
    display device is positioned relative to which display device. For
    example:
    
        "CRT-0 LeftOf DFP-0"
    
    
ConnectedMonitor

    With this option you can override what the NVIDIA kernel module detects is
    connected to your video card. This may be useful, for example, if any of
    your display devices do not support detection using Display Data Channel
    (DDC) protocols. Valid values are a comma-separated list of display device
    names; for example:
    
        "CRT-0, CRT-1"
        "CRT"
        "CRT-1, DFP-0"
    
    WARNING: this option overrides what display devices are detected by the
    NVIDIA kernel module, and is very seldom needed. You really only need this
    if a display device is not detected, either because it does not provide
    DDC information, or because it is on the other side of a KVM
    (Keyboard-Video-Mouse) switch. In most other cases, it is best not to
    specify this option.

Just as in all X config entries, spaces are ignored and all entries are case
insensitive.


FREQUENTLY ASKED TWINVIEW QUESTIONS

Q. Nothing gets displayed on my second monitor; what is wrong?

A. Monitors that do not support monitor detection using Display Data Channel
   (DDC) protocols (this includes most older monitors) are not detectable by
   your NVIDIA card. You need to explicitly tell the NVIDIA X driver what you
   have connected using the "ConnectedMonitor" option; e.g.:
   
       Option "ConnectedMonitor" "CRT, CRT"
   
   

Q. Will window managers be able to appropriately place windows (e.g. avoiding
   placing windows across both display devices, or in inaccessible regions of
   the virtual desktop)?

A. Yes. The NVIDIA X driver provides a Xinerama extension that X clients (such
   as window managers) can use to discover the current TwinView configuration.
   Note that the Xinerama protocol provides no way to notify clients when a
   configuration change occurs, so if you modeswitch to a different MetaMode,
   your window manager will still think you have the previous configuration.
   Using the Xinerama extension, in conjunction with the XF86VidMode extension
   to get modeswitch events, window managers should be able to determine the
   TwinView configuration at any given time.

   Unfortunately, the data provided by XineramaQueryScreens() appears to
   confuse some window managers; to work around such broken window mangers,
   you can disable communication of the TwinView screen layout with the
   "NoTwinViewXineramaInfo" X config Option (please see Appendix D for
   details).

   Be aware that the NVIDIA driver cannot provide the Xinerama extension if
   the X server's own Xinerama extension is being used. Explicitly specifying
   Xinerama in the X config file or on the X server commandline will prohibit
   NVIDIA's Xinerama extension from installing, so make sure that the X
   server's log file does not contain:
   
       (++) Xinerama: enabled
   
   if you want the NVIDIA driver to be able to provide the Xinerama extension
   while in TwinView.

   Another solution is to use panning domains to eliminate inaccessible
   regions of the virtual screen (see the MetaMode description above).

   A third solution is to use two separate X screens, rather than use
   TwinView. Please see Appendix P.


Q. Why can I not get a resolution of 1600x1200 on the second display device
   when using a GeForce2 MX?

A. Because the second display device on the GeForce2 MX was designed to be a
   digital flat panel, the Pixel Clock for the second display device is only
   150 MHz. This effectively limits the resolution on the second display
   device to somewhere around 1280x1024 (for a description of how Pixel Clock
   frequencies limit the programmable modes, see the XFree86 Video Timings
   HOWTO). This constraint is not present on GeForce4 or GeForce FX chips --
   the maximum pixel clock is the same on both heads.


Q. Do video overlays work across both display devices?

A. Hardware video overlays only work on the first display device. The current
   solution is that blitted video is used instead on TwinView.


Q. How are virtual screen dimensions determined in TwinView?

A. After all requested modes have been validated, and the offsets for each
   MetaMode's viewports have been computed, the NVIDIA driver computes the
   bounding box of the panning domains for each MetaMode. The maximum bounding
   box width and height is then found.

   Note that one side effect of this is that the virtual width and virtual
   height may come from different MetaModes. Given the following MetaMode
   string:
   
       "1600x1200,NULL; 1024x768+0+0, 1024x768+0+768"
   
   the resulting virtual screen size will be 1600 x 1536.


Q. Can I play full screen games across both display devices?

A. Yes. While the details of configuration will vary from game to game, the
   basic idea is that a MetaMode presents X with a mode whose resolution is
   the bounding box of the viewports for that MetaMode. For example, the
   following:
   
       Option "MetaModes" "1024x768,1024x768; 800x600,800x600"
       Option "TwinViewOrientation" "RightOf"
   
   produce two modes: one whose resolution is 2048x768, and another whose
   resolution is 1600x600. Games such as Quake 3 Arena use the VidMode
   extension to discover the resolutions of the modes currently available. To
   configure Quake 3 Arena to use the above MetaMode string, add the following
   to your q3config.cfg file:
   
       seta r_customaspect "1"
       seta r_customheight "600"
       seta r_customwidth  "1600"
       seta r_fullscreen   "1"
       seta r_mode         "-1"
   
   Note that, given the above configuration, there is no mode with a
   resolution of 800x600 (remember that the MetaMode "800x600, 800x600" has a
   resolution of 1600x600"), so if you change Quake 3 Arena to use a
   resolution of 800x600, it will display in the lower left corner of your
   screen, with the rest of the screen grayed out. To have single head modes
   available as well, an appropriate MetaMode string might be something like:
   
       "800x600,800x600; 1024x768,NULL; 800x600,NULL; 640x480,NULL"
   
   More precise configuration information for specific games is beyond the
   scope of this document, but the above examples coupled with numerous online
   sources should be enough to point you in the right direction.


______________________________________________________________________________

Appendix H. Configuring TV-Out
______________________________________________________________________________

NVIDIA GPU-based video cards with a TV-Out (S-video) connector can use a
television as another display device, just like a CRT or digital flat panel.
The TV can be used by itself, or (on appropriate video cards) in conjunction
with another display device in a TwinView configuration. If a TV is the only
display device connected to your video card, it will be used as the primary
display when you boot your system (i.e. the console will come up on the TV
just as if it were a CRT). To use your TV with X, there are a few parameters
that you should pay special attention to in your X config file:

   o The VertRefresh and HorizSync values in your monitor section; please make
     sure these are appropriate for your television. Values are generally:
     
         HorizSync 30-50
         VertRefresh 60
     
     
   o The Modes in your screen section; the valid modes for your TV encoder
     will be reported in a verbose X log file (generated with `startx --
     -logverbose 5`) when X is run on a TV. Some modes may be limited to
     certain TV Standards; if that is the case, it will be noted in the X log
     file. Generally, at least 800x600 and 640x480 are supported.

   o The "TVStandard" option should be added to your screen section; valid
     values are:
     
         TVStandard       Description
         -------------    --------------------------------------------------
         "PAL-B"          used in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany,
                          Guinea, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Italy,
                          Malaysia, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal,
                          Singapore, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland
         "PAL-D"          used in China and North Korea
         "PAL-G"          used in Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy,
                          Malaysia, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal,
                          Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland
         "PAL-H"          used in Belgium
         "PAL-I"          used in Hong Kong and The United Kingdom
         "PAL-K1"         used in Guinea
         "PAL-M"          used in Brazil
         "PAL-N"          used in France, Paraguay, and Uruguay
         "PAL-NC"         used in Argentina
         "NTSC-J"         used in Japan
         "NTSC-M"         used in Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica,
                          Ecuador, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Puerto
                          Rico, South Korea, Taiwan, United States of
                          America, and Venezuela
         "HD480i"         480 line interlaced
         "HD480p"         480 line progressive
         "HD720p"         720 line progressive
         "HD1080i"        1080 line interlaced
         "HD1080p"        1080 line progressive
         "HD576i"         576 line interlace
         "HD576p"         576 line progressive
     
     The line in your X config file should be something like:
     
         Option "TVStandard" "NTSC-M"
     
     If you do not specify a TVStandard, or you specify an invalid value, the
     default "NTSC-M" will be used. Note: if your country is not in the above
     list, select the country closest to your location.

   o The "ConnectedMonitor" option can be used to tell X to use the TV for
     display. This should only be needed if your TV is not detected by the
     video card, or you use a CRT (or digital flat panel) as your boot
     display, but want to redirect X to use the TV. The line in your config
     file should be:
     
         Option "ConnectedMonitor" "TV"
     
     
   o The "TVOutFormat" option can be used to force S-video or composite
     output. Without this option the driver autodetects the output format.
     Unfortunately, it does not always do this correctly. The output format
     can be forced with the options:
     
         Option "TVOutFormat" "SVIDEO"
     
     or
     
         Option "TVOutFormat" "COMPOSITE"
     
     The "TVOverScan" option can be used to enable Overscan where supported.
     Valid values are decimal values in the range 1.0 (which means overscan as
     much as possible: make the image as large as possible) and 0.0 (which
     means disable overscanning: make the image as small as possible).
     Overscanning is disabled (0.0) by default.

     Overscan is currently only available on GeForce4 or newer GPUs with
     either NVIDIA or Conexant TV encoders.

The NVIDIA X driver may not restore the console correctly with XFree86
versions older than 4.3 when the console is a TV. This is due to binary
incompatibilities between XFree86 int10 modules. If you use a TV as your
console it is recommended that you upgrade to XFree86 4.3 or later.

______________________________________________________________________________

Appendix I. Configuring a Laptop
______________________________________________________________________________

INSTALLATION AND CONFIGURATION

Installation and configuration of the NVIDIA Accelerated Linux Driver Set on a
laptop is the same as for any desktop environment, with a few minor
exceptions, listed below.

Starting with the 1.0-2802 release, information about the internal flat panel
for use in initializing the display is by default generated on the fly from
data stored in the video BIOS. This can be disabled by setting the "SoftEDIDs"
kernel option to 0. If "SoftEDIDs" is turned off, then hardcoded data will be
chosen from a table, based on the value of the "Mobile" kernel option.

The "Mobile" kernel option can be set to any of the following values:

    Value              Meaning
    ---------------    ------------------------------------------------------
    0xFFFFFFFF         let the kernel module autodetect the correct value
    1                  Dell laptops
    2                  non-Compal Toshiba laptops
    3                  all other laptops
    4                  Compal Toshiba laptops
    5                  Gateway laptops

Again, the "Mobile" kernel option is only needed if SoftEDIDs is disabled;
when it is used, it is usually safest to let the kernel module autodetect the
correct value (this is the default behavior).

Should you need to alter either of these options, you may do so in any of the
following ways:

   o editing os-registry.c in the usr/src/nv/ directory of the '.run' file.

   o setting the value on the modprobe command line (e.g.: `modprobe nvidia
     NVreg_SoftEDIDs=0 NVreg_Mobile=3`)

   o adding an "options" line to your module configuration file, usually
     '/etc/modules.conf' (e.g.: "options nvidia NVreg_Mobile=5")


ADDITIONAL FUNCTIONALITY

In this section we discuss additional functionality associated with laptop
configuration.

TWINVIEW

All mobile NVIDIA chips support TwinView. TwinView on a laptop can be
configured in the same way as on a desktop machine (please refer to Appendix G
); note that in a TwinView configuration using the laptop's internal flat
panel and an external CRT, the CRT is the primary display device (specify its
HorizSync and VertRefresh in the Monitor section of your X config file) and
the flat panel is the secondary display device (specify its HorizSync and
VertRefresh through the SecondMonitorHorizSync and SecondMonitorVertRefresh
options).

The "UseEdidFreqs" X config option is enabled by default, so normally you
should not need to specify the "SecondMonitorHorizSync" and
"SecondMonitorVertRefresh" options. Please see the description of the
UseEdidFreqs option in Appendix D for details).

HOTKEY SWITCHING OF DISPLAY DEVICES

Besides TwinView, mobile NVIDIA chips also have the capacity to react to an
LCD/CRT hotkey event, toggling between each of the connected display devices
and each possible combination of the connected display devices (note that only
2 display devices may be active at a time). TwinView as configured in your X
config file and hotkey functionality are mutually exclusive -- if you enable
TwinView in your X config file, then the NVIDIA X driver will ignore LCD/CRT
hotkey events.

Another important aspect of hotkey functionality is that you can dynamically
connect and remove display devices to/from your laptop and use the hotkey to
activate and deactivate them without restarting X.

When X is started, or when a change is detected in the list of connected
display devices, a new hotkey sequence list is constructed -- this lists which
display devices will be used with each hotkey event. When a hotkey event
occurs, the next hotkey state in the sequence is chosen. Each mode requested
in the X config file is validated against each display device's constraints,
and the resulting modes are made available for that display device. If
multiple display devices are to be active at once, then the modes from each
display device are paired together; if an exact match (same resolution) cannot
be found, then the closest fit is found, and the display device with the
smaller resolution is panned within the resolution of the other display
device.

When switching away from X to a virtual terminal, the VGA console will always
be restored to the display device on which it was present when X was started.
Similarly, when switching back into X, the same display device configuration
will be used as when you switched away, regardless of what LCD/CRT hotkey
activity occurred while the virtual terminal was active.

NON-STANDARD MODES ON LCD DISPLAYS

Some users have had difficulty programming a 1400x1050 mode (the native
resolution of some laptop LCDs). In version 4.0.3, XFree86 added several
1400x1050 modes to its database of default modes, but if you are using an
older version of XFree86, the following modeline may be useful:

    # -- 1400x1050 --
    # 1400x1050 @ 60Hz, 65.8 kHz hsync
    Modeline "1400x1050"  129  1400 1464 1656 1960
        1050 1051 1054 1100 +HSync +VSync


KNOWN LAPTOP ISSUES

There are a few known issues associated with laptops:

   o LCD/CRT hotkey switching is not currently functioning on any Toshiba
     laptop, with the exception of the Toshiba Satellite 3000 series.

   o TwinView on Satellite 2800 series Toshiba laptops is not currently
     functioning.

   o The video overlay only works on the first display device on which you
     started X. For example, if you start X on the internal LCD, run a video
     application that uses the video overlay (uses the "Video Overlay" adapter
     advertised through the XV extension), and then hotkey switch to add a
     second display device, the video will not appear on the second display
     device. To work around this, you can either configure the video
     application to use the "Video Blitter" adapter advertised through the XV
     extension (this is always available), or hotkey switch to the display
     device on which you want to use the video overlay *before* starting X.


______________________________________________________________________________

Appendix J. Programming Modes
______________________________________________________________________________

The NVIDIA Accelerated Linux Driver Set supports all standard VGA and VESA
modes, as well as most user-written custom mode lines; double-scan modes are
supported on all hardware. Interlaced modes are supported on all GeForce
FX/Quadro FX and newer GPUs, and certain older GPUs; the X log file will
contain a message "Interlaced video modes are supported on this GPU" if
interlaced modes are supported.

In general, your display device (monitor/flat panel/television) will be a
greater constraint on what modes you can use than either your NVIDIA GPU-based
video board or the NVIDIA Accelerated Linux Driver Set.

To request one or more standard modes for use in X, you can simply add a
"Modes" line such as:

    Modes "1600x1200" "1024x768" "640x480"

in the appropriate Display subsection of your X config file (please see the
XF86Config(5x) or xorg.conf(5x) man pages for details). The following
documentation is primarily of interest if you compose your own custom mode
lines, experiment with xvidtune(1), or are just interested in learning more.
Please note that this is neither an explanation nor a guide to the fine art of
crafting custom mode lines for X. We leave that, rather, to documents such as
the XFree86 Video Timings HOWTO (which can be found at http://www.tldp.org).

DEPTH, BITS PER PIXEL, AND PITCH

While not directly a concern when programming modes, the bits used per pixel
is an issue when considering the maximum programmable resolution; for this
reason, it is worthwhile to address the confusion surrounding the terms
"depth" and "bits per pixel". Depth is how many bits of data are stored per
pixel. Supported depths are 8, 15, 16, and 24. Most video hardware, however,
stores pixel data in sizes of 8, 16, or 32 bits; this is the amount of memory
allocated per pixel. When you specify your depth, X selects the bits per pixel
(bpp) size in which to store the data. Below is a table of what bpp is used
for each possible depth:

    Depth                                 BPP
    ----------------------------------    ----------------------------------
    8                                     8
    15                                    16
    16                                    16
    24                                    32

Lastly, the "pitch" is how many bytes in the linear frame buffer there are
between one pixel's data, and the data of the pixel immediately below. You can
think of this as the horizontal resolution multiplied by the bytes per pixel
(bits per pixel divided by 8). In practice, the pitch may be more than this
product due to alignment constraints.

MAXIMUM RESOLUTIONS

The NVIDIA Accelerated Linux Driver Set and NVIDIA GPU-based video boards
support resolutions up to 2048x1536, though the maximum resolution your system
can support is also limited by the amount of video memory (see USEFUL FORMULAS
for details) and the maximum supported resolution of your display device
(monitor/flat panel/television). Also note that while use of a video overlay
does not limit the maximum resolution or refresh rate, video memory bandwidth
used by a programmed mode does effect the overlay quality.

USEFUL FORMULAS

The maximum resolution is a function both of the amount of video memory and
the bits per pixel you elect to use:

HR * VR * (bpp/8) = Video Memory Used

In other words, the amount of video memory used is equal to the horizontal
resolution (HR) multiplied by the vertical resolution (VR) multiplied by the
bytes per pixel (bits per pixel divided by eight). Technically, the video
memory used is actually the pitch times the vertical resolution, and the pitch
may be slightly greater than (HR * (bpp/8)) to accommodate the hardware
requirement that the pitch be a multiple of some value.

Please note that this is just memory usage for the frame buffer; video memory
is also used by other things, such as OpenGL and pixmap caching.

Another important relationship is that between the resolution, the pixel clock
(aka dot clock) and the vertical refresh rate:

RR = PCLK / (HFL * VFL)

In other words, the refresh rate (RR) is equal to the pixel clock (PCLK)
divided by the total number of pixels: the horizontal frame length (HFL)
multiplied by the vertical frame length (VFL) (note that these are the frame
lengths, and not just the visible resolutions). As described in the XFree86
Video Timings HOWTO, the above formula can be rewritten as:

PCLK = RR * HFL * VFL

Given a maximum pixel clock, you can adjust the RR, HFL and VFL as desired, as
long as the product of the three is consistent. The pixel clock is reported in
the log file when you run X with verbose logging: `startx -- -logverbose 5`.
Your X log should contain several lines like:

    (--) NVIDIA(0): Display Device 0: maximum pixel clock at  8 bpp: 350 MHz
    (--) NVIDIA(0): Display Device 0: maximum pixel clock at 16 bpp: 350 MHz
    (--) NVIDIA(0): Display Device 0: maximum pixel clock at 32 bpp: 300 MHz

which indicate the maximum pixel clock at each bit per pixel size.

HOW MODES ARE VALIDATED

During the PreInit phase of the X server, the NVIDIA X driver validates all
requested modes by doing the following:

   o Take the intersection of the HorizSync and VertRefresh ranges given by
     the user in the X config file with the ranges reported by the monitor in
     the EDID (Extended Display Identification Data); this behavior can be
     disabled by using the "IgnoreEDID" option in which case the X driver will
     blindly accept the HorizSync and VertRefresh ranges given by the user
     (see Appendix D).

   o Call the xf86ValidateModes() helper function, which finds modes with the
     names the user specified in the X config file, pruning out modes with
     invalid horizontal sync frequencies or vertical refresh rates, pixel
     clocks larger than the maximum pixel clock for the video card, or
     resolutions larger than the virtual screen size (if a virtual screen size
     was specified in the X config file). Several other constraints are
     applied; see "xc/programs/Xserver/hw/xfree86/common/xf86Mode.c:
     xf86ValidateModes()".

   o All modes returned from xf86ValidateModes() are then examined to make
     sure their resolutions are not larger than the largest mode reported by
     the monitor's EDID (this can be disabled with the "IgnoreEDID" option. If
     the display is a TV, each mode is checked to make sure it has a
     resolution that is supported by the TV encoder (usually only 800x600 and
     640x480 are supported by the encoder).

   o All modes are also tested to confirm that they fit within the hardware's
     memory bandwidth constraints. This test can be disabled with the
     NoBandWidthTest X config file option.

   o All remaining modes are then checked to make sure they pass the
     constraints described below in ADDITIONAL MODE CONSTRAINTS.

The last three steps are also done when each mode is programmed, to catch
potentially invalid modes submitted by the XF86VidModeExtension (eg
xvidtune(1)). For TwinView, the above validation is done for the modes
requested for each display device.

ADDITIONAL MODE CONSTRAINTS

Below is a list of additional constraints on a mode's parameters that must be
met. In some cases these are chip-specific.

   o The horizontal resolution (HR) must be a multiple of 8 and be less than
     or equal to the value in the table below.

   o The horizontal blanking width (the maximum of the horizontal frame length
     and the horizontal sync end minus the minimum of the horizontal
     resolution and the horizontal sync start (max(HFL,HSE) - min(HR,HSS)))
     must be a multiple of 8 and be less than or equal to the value in the
     table below.

   o The horizontal sync start (HSS) must be a multiple of 8 and be less than
     or equal to the value in the table below.

   o The horizontal sync width (the horizontal sync end minus the horizontal
     sync start (HSE - HSS)) must be a multiple of 8 and be less than or equal
     to the value in the table below.

   o The horizontal frame length (HFL) must be a multiple of 8, must be
     greater than or equal to 40, and must be less than or equal to the value
     in the table below.

   o The horizontal frame length (HFL) must be a multiple of 8, must be
     greater than or equal to 40, and must be less than or equal to the value
     in the table below.

   o The vertical resolution (VR) must be less than or equal to the value in
     the table below.

   o The vertical blanking width (the maximum of the vertical frame length and
     the vertical sync end minus the minimum of the vertical resolution and
     the vertical sync start (max(VFL,VSE) - min(VR,VSS))) must be less than
     or equal to the value in the table below.

   o The vertical sync start (VSS) must be less than or equal to the value in
     the table below.

   o The vertical sync width (the vertical sync end minus the vertical sync
     start (VSE - VSS)) must be less than or equal to the value in the table
     below.

   o The vertical frame length (VFL) must be greater than or equal to 2 and
     less than or equal to the value in the table below.

The following table provides the maximum DAC values for various hardware
generations:

                             GeForce2 and 3           GeForce4 and newer
    ---------------------    ---------------------    ---------------------
    HR                       4092                     8192
    HBW                      1016                     2040
    HSS                      4088                     8224
    HSW                      256                      512
    HFL                      4128                     8224
    VR                       4096                     8192
    VBW                      128                      256
    VSS                      4095                     8192
    VSW                      16                       16
    VFL                      4097                     8192

Here is an example mode line demonstrating the use of each abbreviation used
above:

    # Custom Mode line for the SGI 1600SW Flat Panel
    #        name           PCLK  HR   HSS  HSE  HFL  VR   VSS  VSE  VFL
    Modeline "sgi1600x1024" 106.9 1600 1632 1656 1672 1024 1027 1030 1067


ENSURING IDENTICAL MODE TIMINGS

Some functionality, such as Active Stereo with TwinView, requires control over
exactly which mode timings are used. There are several ways to accomplish
that:

   o If you only want to make sure that both display devices use the same
     modes, you only need to make sure that both display devices use the same
     HorizSync and VertRefresh values when performing mode validation; this
     would be done by making sure the HorizSync and SecondMonitorHorizSync
     match, and that the VertRefresh and the SecondMonitorVertRefresh match.

   o A more explicit approach is to specify the modeline you want to use
     (using one of the modeline generators available), and using a unique
     name. For example, if you wanted to use 1024x768 at 120 Hz on each
     monitor in TwinView with active stereo, you might add something like:
     
         # 1024x768 @ 120.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 98.76 kHz; pclk: 139.05 MHz
         Modeline "1024x768_120"  139.05  1024 1104 1216 1408  768 769 772 823
      -HSync +Vsync
     
     In the monitor section of your X config file, and then in the Screen
     section of your X config file, specify a MetaMode like this:
     
         Option "MetaModes" "1024x768_120, 1024x768_120"
     
     

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

An XFree86 modeline generator, conforming to the GTF Standard is available at
http://gtf.sourceforge.net/. Additional generators can be found by searching
for "modeline" on freshmeat.net.

______________________________________________________________________________

Appendix K. Flipping and UBB
______________________________________________________________________________

The NVIDIA Accelerated Linux Driver Set supports Unified Back Buffer (UBB) and
OpenGL Flipping. These features can provide performance gains in certain
situations.

   o Unified Back Buffer (UBB): UBB is available only on the Quadro family of
     GPUs (Quadro4 NVS excluded) and is enabled by default when there is
     sufficient video memory available. This can be disabled with the UBB X
     config option described in Appendix D. When UBB is enabled, all windows
     share the same back, stencil and depth buffers. When there are many
     windows, the back, stencil and depth usage will never exceed the size of
     that used by a full screen window. However, even for a single small
     window, the back, stencil, and depth video memory usage is that of a full
     screen window. In that case video memory may be used less efficiently
     than in the non-UBB case.

   o Flipping: When OpenGL flipping is enabled, OpenGL can perform buffer
     swaps by changing which buffer the DAC scans out rather than copying the
     back buffer contents to the front buffer; this is generally a much higher
     performance mechanism and allows tearless swapping during the vertical
     retrace (when __GL_SYNC_TO_VBLANK is set). The conditions under which
     OpenGL can flip are slightly complicated, but in general: on GeForce or
     newer hardware, OpenGL can flip when a single full screen unobscured
     OpenGL application is running, and __GL_SYNC_TO_VBLANK is enabled.
     Additionally, OpenGL can flip on Quadro hardware even when an OpenGL
     window is partially obscured or not full screen or __GL_SYNC_TO_VBLANK is
     not enabled.


______________________________________________________________________________

Appendix L. Known Issues
______________________________________________________________________________

The following problems still exist in this release and are in the process of
being resolved.

Known Issues

OpenGL and dlopen()

    There are some issues with older versions of the glibc dynamic loader
    (e.g., the version that shipped with Red Hat Linux 7.2) and applications
    such as Quake3 and Radiant, that use dlopen(). Please see Chapter 4 for
    more details.

Multicard, Multimonitor

    In some cases, the secondary card is not initialized correctly by the
    NVIDIA kernel module. You can work around this by enabling the XFree86
    Int10 module to soft-boot all secondary cards. See Appendix D for details.

Interaction with pthreads

    Single-threaded applications that use dlopen() to load NVIDIA's libGL
    library, and then use dlopen() to load any other library that is linked
    against libpthread will crash in libGL. This does not happen in NVIDIA's
    new ELF TLS OpenGL libraries (please see Appendix C for a description of
    the ELF TLS OpenGL libraries). Possible workarounds for this problem are:
    
      1. Load the library that is linked with libpthread before loading libGL.
    
      2. Link the application with libpthread.
    
    
The X86-64 platform (AMD64/EM64T) and 2.6 kernels

    Many 2.4 and 2.6 x86_64 kernels have an accounting problem in their
    implementation of the change_page_attr kernel interface. Early 2.6 kernels
    include a check that triggers a BUG() when this situation is encountered
    (triggering a BUG() results in the current application being killed by the
    kernel; this application would be your OpenGL application or potentially
    the X server). The accounting issue has been resolved in the 2.6.11
    kernel.

    We have added checks to recognize that the NVIDIA kernel module is being
    compiled for the x86-64 platform on a kernel between 2.6.0 and 2.6.11. In
    this case, we will disable usage of the change_page_attr kernel interface.
    This will avoid the accounting issue but leaves the system in danger of
    cache aliasing (see entry below on Cache Aliasing for more information
    about cache aliasing). Note that this change_page_attr accounting issue
    and BUG() can be triggered by other kernel subsystems that rely on this
    interface.

    If you are using a 2.6 x86_64 kernel, it is recommended that you upgrade
    to a 2.6.11 or later kernel.

IOMMU/SWIOTLB interaction on the X86-64 platform

    Linux does not currently provide a mechanism for allocating memory with
    addresses that fall within the first 4GB of the physical memory installed
    in a Linux/x86-64 system. Addresses within this range are necessary for
    32-bit PCI hardware to provide DMA capabilities. Instead, the Linux kernel
    provides a software I/O TLB on Intel's EM64T and IOMMU support on AMD's
    AMD64 platform.

    Unfortunately, some problems exist with both interfaces. Early
    implementations of the Linux SWIOTLB set aside a very small amount of
    memory for its memory pool (only 4MB). Also, when this memory pool is
    exhausted, some SWIOTLB implementations forcibly panic the kernel. This is
    also true for some implementations of the IOMMU interface.

    Kernel panics and related stability problems on Intel's EM64T platform can
    be avoided by increasing the size of the SWIOTLB pool with the 'swiotlb'
    kernel parameter. This kernel parameter expects the desired size in KB,
    divided by two. NVIDIA suggests raising the size of the SWIOTLB pool to
    64MB; this is accomplished by passing 'swiotlb=32768' to the kernel.

    Starting with Linux 2.6.9, the default size of the SWIOTLB is 64MB and
    overflow handling is improved. Both of these changes are expected to
    greatly improve stability on Intel's EM64T platform. If you consider
    upgrading your Linux kernel to benefit from these improvements, NVIDIA
    recommends that you upgrade to Linux 2.6.11 or a more recent Linux kernel.
    Please see the previous section for additional information.

    On AMD's AMD64 platform, the size of the IOMMU can be configured in the
    system BIOS or, if no IOMMU BIOS option is available, using the
    'iommu=memaper' kernel parameter. This kernel parameter expects an order
    and instructs the Linux kernel to create an IOMMU of size 32MB^order
    overlapping physical memory. If the system's default IOMMU is smaller than
    64MB, the Linux kernel automatically replaces it with a 64MB IOMMU.

    To reduce the risk of stability problems as a result of IOMMU or SWIOTLB
    exhaustion on the X86-64 platform, the NVIDIA Linux driver internally
    limits its use of these interfaces. By default, the driver will not use
    more than 60MB of IOMMU/SWIOTLB space, leaving 4MB for the rest of the
    system (assuming a 64MB IOMMU/SWIOTLB).

    This limit can be adjusted with the 'NVreg_RemapLimit' NVIDIA kernel
    module option. Specifically, if the IOMMU/SWIOTLB is larger than 64MB, the
    limit can be adjusted to take advantage of the additional space. The
    'NVreg_RemapLimit' option expects the size argument in bytes.

    NVIDIA recommends leaving 4MB available for the rest of the system when
    changing the limit. For example, if the internal limit is to be relaxed to
    account for a 128MB IOMMU/SWIOTLB, the recommended remap limit is 124MB.
    This remap limit can be specified by passing 'NVreg_RemapLimit=0x7c00000'
    to the NVIDIA kernel module.

    Please also read the previous known issues section for information on
    additional stability problems on this platform.

Cache Aliasing

    Cache aliasing occurs when multiple mappings to a physical page of memory
    have conflicting caching states, such as cached and uncached. Due to these
    conflicting states, data in that physical page may become corrupted when
    the processor's cache is flushed. If that page is being used for DMA by a
    driver such as NVIDIA's graphics driver, this can lead to hardware
    stability problems and system lockups.

    NVIDIA has encountered bugs with some Linux kernel versions that lead to
    cache aliasing. Although some systems will run perfectly fine when cache
    aliasing occurs, other systems will experience severe stability problems,
    including random lockups. Users experiencing stability problems due to
    cache aliasing will benefit from updating to a kernel that does not cause
    cache aliasing to occur.

    NVIDIA has added driver logic to detect cache aliasing and to print a
    warning with a message similar to the following:
    
    NVRM: bad caching on address 0x1cdf000: actual 0x46 != expected 0x73
    
    If you see this message in your log files and are experiencing stability
    problems, you should update your kernel to the latest version.

    If the message persists after updating your kernel, please send a bug
    report to NVIDIA.

64-Bit BARs (Base Address Registers)

    Starting with native PCI Express GPUs, NVIDIA's GPUs will advertise a
    64-bit BAR capability (a Base Address Register stores the location of a
    PCI I/O region, such as registers or a frame buffer). This means that the
    GPU's PCI I/O regions (registers and frame buffer) can be placed above the
    32-bit address space (the first 4 gigabytes of memory).

    The decision of where the BAR is placed is made by the system BIOS at boot
    time. If the BIOS supports 64-bit BARs, then the NVIDIA PCI I/O regions
    may be placed above the 32-bit address space. If the BIOS does not support
    this feature, then our PCI I/O regions will be placed within the 32-bit
    address space as they have always been.

    Unfortunately, current Linux kernels (as of 2.6.11.x) do not understand or
    support 64-bit BARs. If the BIOS does place any NVIDIA PCI I/O regions
    above the 32-bit address space, the kernel will reject the BAR and the
    NVIDIA driver will not work.

    There is no known workaround at this point.

Laptops

    If you are using a laptop please see the "Known Laptop Issues" in Appendix
    I.

FSAA

    When FSAA is enabled (the __GL_FSAA_MODE environment variable is set to a
    value that enables FSAA and a multisample visual is chosen), the rendering
    may be corrupted when resizing the window.

libGL DSO finalizer and pthreads

    When a multithreaded OpenGL application exits, it is possible for libGL's
    DSO finalizer (also known as the destructor, or "_fini") to be called
    while other threads are executing OpenGL code. The finalizer needs to free
    resources allocated by libGL. This can cause problems for threads that are
    still using these resources. Setting the environment variable
    "__GL_NO_DSO_FINALIZER" to "1" will work around this problem by forcing
    libGL's finalizer to leave its resources in place. These resources will
    still be reclaimed by the operating system when the process exits. Note
    that the finalizer is also executed as part of dlclose(3), so if you have
    an application that dlopens(3) and dlcloses(3) libGL repeatedly,
    "__GL_NO_DSO_FINALIZER" will cause libGL to leak resources until the
    process exits. Using this option can improve stability in some
    multithreaded applications, including Java3D applications.

XVideo and the Composite X extension

    XVideo will not work correctly when Composite is enabled. See Appendix S.

This section describes problems that will not be fixed. Usually, the source of
the problem is beyond the control of NVIDIA. Following is the list of
problems:

Problems that Will Not Be Fixed

Gigabyte GA-6BX Motherboard

    This motherboard uses a LinFinity regulator on the 3.3 V rail that is only
    rated to 5 A -- less than the AGP specification, which requires 6 A. When
    diagnostics or applications are running, the temperature of the regulator
    rises, causing the voltage to the NVIDIA chip to drop as low as 2.2 V.
    Under these circumstances, the regulator cannot supply the current on the
    3.3 V rail that the NVIDIA chip requires.

    This problem does not occur when the graphics board has a switching
    regulator or when an external power supply is connected to the 3.3 V rail.

VIA KX133 and 694X Chip sets with AGP 2x

    On Athlon motherboards with the VIA KX133 or 694X chip set, such as the
    ASUS K7V motherboard, NVIDIA drivers default to AGP 2x mode to work around
    insufficient drive strength on one of the signals.

Irongate Chip sets with AGP 1x

    AGP 1x transfers are used on Athlon motherboards with the Irongate chipset
    to work around a problem with signal integrity.

ALi chipsets, ALi1541 and ALi1647

    On ALi1541 and ALi1647 chipsets, NVIDIA drivers disable AGP to work around
    timing issues and signal integrity issues. See Chapter 5 for more
    information on ALi chipsets.

I/O APIC (SMP)

    If you are experiencing stability problems with a Linux SMP machine and
    seeing I/O APIC warning messages from the Linux kernel, system reliability
    may be greatly improved by setting the "noapic" kernel parameter.

Local APIC (UP)

    On some systems, setting the "Local APIC Support on Uniprocessors" kernel
    configuration option can have adverse effects on system stability and
    performance. If you are experiencing lockups with a Linux UP machine and
    have this option set, try disabling local APIC support.


______________________________________________________________________________

Appendix M. Proc Interface
______________________________________________________________________________

You can use the /proc filesystem interface to obtain run-time information
about the driver, any installed NVIDIA graphics cards, and the AGP status.

This information is contained in several files in /proc/driver/nvidia

/proc/driver/nvidia/version

    Lists the installed driver revision and the version of the GNU C compiler
    used to build the Linux kernel module.

/proc/driver/nvidia/warnings

    The NVIDIA graphics driver tries to detect potential problems with the
    host system's kernel and warns about them using the kernel's printk()
    mechanism, typically logged by the system to '/var/log/messages'.

    Important NVIDIA warning messages are also logged to dedicated text files
    in this /proc directory.

/proc/driver/nvidia/cards/0...3

    Provide information about each of the installed NVIDIA graphics adapters
    (model name, IRQ, BIOS version, Bus Type). Please note that the BIOS
    version is only available while X is running.

/proc/driver/nvidia/agp/card

    Information about the installed AGP card's AGP capabilities.

/proc/driver/nvidia/agp/host-bridge

    Information about the host bridge (model and AGP capabilities).

/proc/driver/nvidia/agp/status

    The current AGP status. If AGP support has been enabled on your system,
    the AGP driver being used, the AGP rate, and information about the status
    of AGP Fast Writes and Side Band Addressing is shown.

    The AGP driver is either NVIDIA (NVIDIA's built-in AGP driver) or AGPGART
    (the Linux kernel's agpgart.o driver). If you see "inactive" next to
    AGPGART, then this means that the AGP chipset was programmed by AGPGART,
    but is not currently in use.

    SBA and Fast Writes indicate whether either one of these features is
    currently in use. Please note that several factors determine whether
    support for either will be enabled. Even if both the AGP card and the host
    bridge support them, the driver may decide not to use these features in
    favor of system stability. This is particularly true of AGP Fast Writes.


______________________________________________________________________________

Appendix N. XvMC Support
______________________________________________________________________________

This release includes support for the XVideo Motion Compensation (XvMC)
version 1.0 API on GeForce4, GeForce FX and newer products. There is a static
library "libXvMCNVIDIA.a" and a dynamic one "libXvMCNVIDIA_dynamic.so" which
is suitable for dlopening. GeForce4 MX, GeForce FX and newer products support
both XvMC's "IDCT" and "motion-compensation" levels of acceleration. GeForce4
Ti products only support the motion-compensation level. AI44 and IA44
subpictures are supported. 4:2:0 Surfaces up to 2032x2032 are supported.

libXvMCNVIDIA observes the XVMC_DEBUG environment variable and will provide
some debug output to stderr when set to an appropriate integer value. '0'
disables debug output. '1' enables debug output for failure conditions. '2' or
higher enables output of warning messages.

______________________________________________________________________________

Appendix O. GLX Support
______________________________________________________________________________

This release supports GLX 1.3 with the following extensions:

   o GLX_EXT_visual_info

   o GLX_EXT_visual_rating

   o GLX_SGIX_fbconfig

   o GLX_SGIX_pbuffer

   o GLX_ARB_get_proc_address

For a description of these extensions, please see the OpenGL extension
registry at http://oss.sgi.com/projects/ogl-sample/registry/index.html

Some of the above extensions exist as part of core GLX 1.3 functionality,
however, they are also exported as extensions for backwards compatibility.

______________________________________________________________________________

Appendix P. Configuring Multiple X Screens on One Card
______________________________________________________________________________

Graphics chips that support TwinView (Appendix G) can also be configured to
treat each connected display device as a separate X screen.

While there are several disadvantages to this approach as compared to TwinView
(e.g.: windows cannot be dragged between X screens, hardware accelerated
OpenGL cannot span the two X screens), it does offer several advantages over
TwinView:

   o If each display device is a separate X screen, then properties that may
     vary between X screens may vary between displays (e.g.: depth, root
     window size, etc).

   o Hardware that can only be used on one display at a time (e.g.: video
     overlays, hardware accelerated RGB overlays), and which consequently
     cannot be used at all when in TwinView, can be exposed on the first X
     screen when each display is a separate X screen.

   o TwinView is a fairly new feature. X has historically used one screen per
     display device.


To configure two separate X screens to share one graphics chip, here is what
you will need to do:

First, create two separate Device sections, each listing the BusID of the
graphics card to be shared and listing the driver as "nvidia", and assign each
a separate screen:

    Section "Device"
        Identifier  "nvidia0"
        Driver      "nvidia"
        # Edit the BusID with the location of your graphics card
        BusID       "PCI:2:0:0"
        Screen      0
    EndSection

    Section "Device"
        Identifier  "nvidia1"
        Driver      "nvidia"
        # Edit the BusID with the location of your graphics card
        BusId       "PCI:2:0:0"
        Screen      1
    EndSection

Then, create two Screen sections, each using one of the Device sections:

    Section "Screen"
        Identifier  "Screen0"
        Device      "nvidia0"
        Monitor     "Monitor0"
        DefaultDepth 24
        Subsection "Display"
            Depth       24
            Modes       "1600x1200" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480" 
        EndSubsection
    EndSection

    Section "Screen"
        Identifier  "Screen1"
        Device      "nvidia1"
        Monitor     "Monitor1"
        DefaultDepth 24
        Subsection "Display"
            Depth       24
            Modes       "1600x1200" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480" 
        EndSubsection
    EndSection

(Note: You'll also need to create a second Monitor section) Finally, update
the ServerLayout section to use and position both Screen sections:

    Section "ServerLayout"
        ...
        Screen         0 "Screen0" 
        Screen         1 "Screen1" leftOf "Screen0"
        ...
    EndSection

For further details, please refer to the XF86Config(5x) or xorg.conf(5x)
manpages.

______________________________________________________________________________

Appendix Q. Power Management Support
______________________________________________________________________________

This release includes support for APM-based power management. This means that
our driver will support suspend and resume, but will not support standby.

Your laptop's system BIOS will need to support APM, rather than ACPI. Many,
but not all, of the GeForce2- and GeForce4-based laptops include APM support.
You can check for APM support via the procfs interface (check for the
existence of /proc/apm) or via the kernel's boot output:

    % dmesg | grep -i apm

a message similar to this indicates APM support:

    apm: BIOS version 1.2 Flags 0x03 (Driver version 1.16)

or a message like this indicates no APM support:

    No APM support in Kernel

Although ACPI support is advancing in development kernels and some backported
patches for 2.4 kernels exist, the NVIDIA graphics driver does not yet provide
support for ACPI. We hope to finish this support in the near future.

Note that standby is not supported, but that the kernel will attempt to enter
standby if told to do so. When changing power levels, many system services are
alerted of the change so that they can handle the change appropriately. For
example, networking will be disabled before suspending, then reenabled when
resuming. When the kernel attempts to enter standby, the BIOS will fail the
attempt. The kernel will print out the error message "standby: Parameter out
of range", but will fail to notify the system services of the failure. As a
result, the system will not go into suspension, but all system services will
be disabled and the system will appear to be hung. The best way to recover
from this situation is to enter suspend, then resume.

Power management support is still under development and is a beta feature. As
a result, some functionality is still missing or unreliable. Known problems
include:

Sometimes chipsets lose their AGP configuration during suspend, and may cause
corruption on the bus upon resume. The AGP driver is required to save and
restore relevant register state on such systems; NVIDIA's NvAGP is notified of
power management events and ensures its configuration is kept intact across
suspend/resume cycles.

Linux 2.4 AGPGART does not support power management, Linux 2.6 AGPGART does,
but only for a few select chipsets. If you use either of these two AGP drivers
and find your system fails to resume reliably, you may have more success with
NVIDIA's NvAGP driver.

Disabling AGP support (please see Appendix F for more details on disabling
AGP) will also work around this problem.

For ACPI, only S3 "Suspend to Ram" is currently supported. This means that S4
"Suspend to Disk", otherwise known as "Software Suspend" or "swsusp" does not
currently work reliably.

______________________________________________________________________________

Appendix R. Display Device Names
______________________________________________________________________________

A "Display Device" refers to some piece of hardware capable of displaying an
image. Display devices are separated into three categories: analog CRTs,
digital flat panels (DFPs), and televisions. Note that analog flat panels are
considered the same as analog CRTs by the driver.

A "Display Device Name" is a string description that uniquely identifies a
display device; it follows the format "<type>-<number>", for example: "CRT-0",
"CRT-1", "DFP-0", or "TV-0". Note that the number indicates how the display
device connector is wired on the graphics board, and has nothing to do with
how many of that kind of display device are present. This means, for example,
that you may have a "CRT-1", even if you do not have a "CRT-0". To determine
which display devices are currently connected, you may check your X log file
for a line similar to the following:

    (II) NVIDIA(0): Connected display device(s): CRT-0, DFP-0

Display device names can be used in the MetaMode, HorizSync, and VertRefresh X
config options to indicate which display device a setting should be applied
to. For example:

    Option "MetaModes"   "CRT-0: 1600x1200,  DFP-0: 1024x768"
    Option "HorizSync"   "CRT-0: 50-110;     DFP-0: 40-70"
    Option "VertRefresh" "CRT-0: 60-120;     DFP-0: 60"

Specifying the display device name in these options is not required; if
display device names are not specified, then the driver attempts to infer
which display device a setting applies to. In the case of MetaModes, for
example, the first mode listed is applied to the "first" display device, and
the second mode listed is applied to the "second" display device.
Unfortunately, it is often unclear which display device is the "first" or
"second". That is why specifying the display device name is preferable.

When specifying display device names, you may also omit the number part of the
name, though this is only useful if you only have one of that type of display
device. For example, if you have one CRT and one DFP connected, you may
reference them in the MetaMode string as follows:

    Option "MetaModes"   "CRT: 1600x1200,  DFP: 1024x768"


______________________________________________________________________________

Appendix S. The X Composite Extension
______________________________________________________________________________

X.org version X11R6.8.0 contains experimental support for a new X protocol
extension called Composite. This extension allows windows to be drawn into
pixmaps instead of directly onto the screen. In conjunction with the DAMAGE
and RENDER extensions, this allows a program called a composite manager to
blend windows together to draw the screen.

Performance can be improved by enabling the "RenderAccel" option in xorg.conf.
See Appendix D for more details.

Full Composite support will require additional driver support. Currently,
direct rendering clients such as GLX have no way of knowing that they are
supposed to render into a pixmap, and will draw directly to the screen
instead. We are currently investigating what is necessary for such clients to
interoperate seamlessly with Composite. In the meantime, GLX will be disabled
by default when the Composite extension is detected. An option has been
provided to re-enable it. See "AllowGLXWithComposite" in Appendix D.

This issue was discussed on the xorg mailing list:
http://freedesktop.org/pipermail/xorg/2004-May/000607.html

Composite also causes problems with other driver components:

   o Xv cannot draw into pixmaps that have been redirected offscreen and will
     draw directly onto the screen instead. For some programs you can work
     around this issue by using an alternative video driver. For example,
     "mplayer -vo x11" will work correctly, as will "xine -V xshm". If you
     want to use Xv, you can simply disable the compositing manager and
     re-enable it when you are finished.

   o Workstation overlays are incompatible with Composite.


More information about Composite can be found at
http://freedesktop.org/Software/CompositeExt

______________________________________________________________________________

Appendix T. The nvidia-settings Utility
______________________________________________________________________________

A graphical configuration utility, 'nvidia-settings', is included with the
NVIDIA Linux graphics driver. After installing the driver and starting X, you
can run this configuration utility by running:

    % nvidia-settings

in a terminal window.

Detailed information about the configuration options available are documented
in the help window in the utility.

For more information, please see the nvidia-settings man page or the user
guide available here:
ftp://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/nvidia-settings-user-guide.txt

The source code to nvidia-settings is released as GPL and is available here:
ftp://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/nvidia-settings/

If you have trouble running the nvidia-settings binary shipped with the NVIDIA
Linux Graphics Driver, please refer to the nvidia-settings entry in Chapter 5.

______________________________________________________________________________

Appendix U. The XRandR Extension
______________________________________________________________________________

X.org version X11R6.8.1 contains support for the rotation component of the
XRandR extension. This allows screens to be rotated at 90 degree increments.

The driver supports rotation with the extension when 'Option "RandRRotation"'
is enabled in the X config file.

Workstation RGB or CI overlay visuals will function at lower performance and
the video overlay will not be available when RandRRotation is enabled.

You can query the available rotations using the 'xrandr' command line
interface to the RandR extension by running:

    xrandr -q

You can set the rotation orientation of the screen by running any of:

    xrandr -o left
    xrandr -o right
    xrandr -o inverted
    xrandr -o normal

Rotation may also be set through the nvidia-settings configuration utility in
the "Rotation Settings" panel.

Note that rotation is currently not supported when TwinView is enabled.

______________________________________________________________________________

Appendix V. Support for GLX in Xinerama
______________________________________________________________________________

This driver supports GLX when Xinerama is enabled on similar GPUs. The
Xinerama extension takes multiple physical X screens (possibly spanning
multiple GPUs), and binds them into one logical X screen. This allows windows
to be dragged between GPUs and to span across multiple GPUs. The NVIDIA driver
supports hardware accelerated OpenGL rendering across all NVIDIA GPUs when
Xinerama is enabled.

To configure Xinerama: configure multiple X screens (please refer to the
XF86Config(5x) or xorg.conf(5x) manpages for details). The Xinerama extension
can be enabled by adding the line

    Option "Xinerama" "True"

to the "ServerFlags" section of your X config file.

Requirements:

   o It is recommended to use identical GPUs. Some combinations of
     non-identical, but similar, GPUs are supported. If a GPU is incompatible
     with the rest of a Xinerama desktop then no OpenGL rendering will appear
     on the screens driven by that GPU. Rendering will still appear normally
     on screens connected to other supported GPUs. In this situation the X log
     file will include a message of the form:



(WW) NVIDIA(2): The GPU driving screen 2 is incompatible with the rest of
(WW) NVIDIA(2):      the GPUs composing the desktop.  OpenGL rendering will
(WW) NVIDIA(2):      be disabled on screen 2.



   o The NVIDIA X driver must be used for all X screens in the server.

   o Only the intersection of capabilities across all GPUs will be advertised.

   o X configuration options that affect GLX operation (e.g.: stereo,
     overlays) should be set consistently across all X screens in the X
     server.


Known Issues:

   o The maximum renderable window dimension is 4096 pixels.

   o Versions of XFree86 prior to 4.5 and versions of X.org prior to 6.8.0
     lack the required interfaces to properly implement overlays with the
     Xinerama extension. On earlier server versions mixing overlays and
     Xinerama will result in rendering corruption. If you are using the
     Xinerama extension with overlays, it is recommended that you upgrade to
     XFree86 4.5, X.org 6.8.0, or newer.


______________________________________________________________________________

Appendix W. SLI FrameRendering
______________________________________________________________________________

This driver contains support for the NVIDIA SLI FrameRendering. SLI
FrameRendering allows an OpenGL application to take advantage of two graphics
cards at the same time to improve performance.

In Linux, SLI can operate in one of three modes: Alternate Frame Rendering
(AFR), Split Frame Rendering (SFR), and SLI Antialiasing (SLIAA). When AFR
mode is active, one GPU draws the next frame while the other one works on the
frame after that. In SFR mode, each frame is split horizontally into two
pieces, with one GPU rendering each piece. The split line is adjusted to
balance the load between the two GPUs. SLIAA mode splits antialiasing work
between the two GPUs. Both GPUs work on the same scene and the result is
blended together to produce the final frame. This mode is useful for
applications that spend most of their time processing with the CPU and cannot
benefit from AFR.

SLI is enabled by setting the "SLI" option in the X configuration file; see
Appendix D for more details about the SLI option.

The nvidia-xconfig utility can be used to set the SLI option, rather than
modifying the X configuration file by hand. For example:

    % nvidia-xconfig --sli=on


See Appendix D for more details about the SLI option.

SLI requires two identical PCI-Express graphics cards, a supported motherboard
chipset, and in most cases a "video bridge" connecting the two graphics cards.
Please note that no mobile GPUs are supported, and SLI on Quadro always
requires a video bridge.

For the latest in supported SLI configurations, including SLI-capable GPUs and
SLI-capable motherboards, please see http://www.slizone.com.

Only one display can be used when SLI is enabled. If X is configured to use
multiple screens and screen 0 has SLI enabled, the other screens will be
disabled. TwinView is also not supported with SLI.


FREQUENTLY ASKED SLI QUESTIONS

Q. Why is glxgears slower when SLI is enabled?

A. When SLI is enabled, the NVIDIA driver must coordinate the operations of
   both GPUs when each new frame is swapped (made visible). For most
   applications, this GPU synchronization overhead is negligible. However,
   because glxgears renders so many frames per second, the GPU synchronization
   overhead consumes a significant portion of the total time, and the
   framerate is reduced.


Q. Why is Doom 3 slower when SLI is enabled?

A. The NVIDIA Accelerated Linux Driver Set does not automatically detect the
   optimal SLI settings for games such as Doom 3 and Quake 4. To work around
   this issue, the environment variable __GL_DOOM3 can be set to tell OpenGL
   that Doom 3's optimal settings should be used. In Bash, this can be done in
   the same command that launches Doom 3 so the environment variable does not
   remain set for other OpenGL applications started in the same session:
   
       % __GL_DOOM3=1 doom3
   
   Doom 3's startup script can also be modified to set this environment
   variable:
   
       #!/bin/sh
       # Needed to make symlinks/shortcuts work.
       # the binaries must run with correct working directory
       cd "/usr/local/games/doom3/"
       export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:.
       export __GL_DOOM3=1
       exec ./doom.x86 "$@"
   
   This environment variable is temporary and will be removed in the future.


Q. Why does SLI fail to initialize?

A. There are several reasons why SLI may fail to initialize. Most of these
   should be clear from the warning message in the X log file; e.g.:
   
      o "SLI is only supported on PCI-E"
   
      o "GPUs do not match"
   
      o "GPU video BIOS does not support SLI"
   
   The message "Failed to initialize SLI! Reason: Operating system error" is
   likely due to problems with your Linux kernel. The NVIDIA driver must have
   access to the PCI Bridge (often called the Root Bridge) that each NVIDIA
   GPU is connected to in order to configure SLI correctly. There are many
   kernels that do not properly recognize this bridge and, as a result, do not
   allow the NVIDIA driver to access this bridge. Please see the below "How
   can I determine if my kernel correctly detects my PCI Bridge?" FAQ for
   details.

   Below are some specific troubleshooting steps to help deal with SLI
   initialization failures.
   
      o Make sure that ACPI is enabled in your kernel. NVIDIA's experience
        has been that ACPI is needed for the kernel to correctly recognize
        the Root Bridge. Note that in some cases, the kernel's version of
        ACPI may still have problems and require an update to a newer kernel.
   
      o Run 'lspci' to check that multiple NVIDIA GPUs can be identified by
        the operating system; e.g:
        
            % /sbin/lspci | grep -i nvidia
        
        If 'lspci' does not report all the GPUs that are in your system, then
        this is a problem with your Linux kernel, and it is recommended that
        you use a different kernel.
   
      o Make sure you have the most recent SBIOS available for your
        motherboard.
   
   

Q. How can I determine if my kernel correctly detects my PCI Bridge?

A. As discussed above, the NVIDIA driver must have access to the PCI Bridge
   that each NVIDIA GPU is connected to in order to configure SLI correctly.
   The following steps will identify whether the kernel correctly recognizes
   the PCI Bridge:
   
      o Identify both NVIDIA GPUs:
        
            % /sbin/lspci | grep -i vga
        
            0a:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation [...]
            81:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation [...]
        
        
      o Verify that each GPU is connected to a bus connected to the Root
        Bridge (note that the GPUs in the above example are on buses 0a and
        81):
        
            % /sbin/lspci -t
        
        good:
        
            -+-[0000:80]-+-00.0
             |           +-01.0
             |           \-0e.0-[0000:81]----00.0
            ...
             \-[0000:00]-+-00.0
                         +-01.0
                         +-01.1
                         +-0e.0-[0000:0a]----00.0
        
        bad:
        
            -+-[0000:81]---00.0
            ...
             \-[0000:00]-+-00.0
                         +-01.0
                         +-01.1
                         +-0e.0-[0000:0a]----00.0
        
        Note that in the first example, bus 81 is connected to Root Bridge
        80, but that in the second example there is no Root Bridge 80 and bus
        81 is incorrectly connected at the base of the device tree. In the
        bad case, the only solution is to upgrade your kernel to one that
        properly detects your PCI bus layout.
   
   

______________________________________________________________________________

Appendix X. Framelock and Genlock
______________________________________________________________________________

Visual computing applications that involve multiple displays, or even multiple
windows within a display, can require special signal processing and
application controls in order to function properly. For example, in order to
produce quality video recording of animated graphics, the graphics display
must be synchronized with the video camera. As another example, applications
presented on multiple displays must be synchronized in order to complete the
illusion of a larger, virtual canvas.

This synchronization is enabled through the framelock and genlock capabilities
of the NVIDIA driver. This section describes the setup and use of framelock
and genlock.

DEFINITION OF TERMS

GENLOCK: Genlock refers to the process of synchronizing the pixel scanning of
one or more displays to an external synchronization source. NVIDIA genlock
requires the external signal to be either TTL or composite, such as used for
NTSC, PAL, or HDTV. It should be noted that the NVIDIA genlock implementation
is guaranteed only to be frame-synchronized, and not necessarily
pixel-synchronized.

FRAMELOCK: Frame lock involves the use of hardware to synchronize the frames
on each display in a connected system. When graphics and video are displayed
across multiple monitors, framelocked systems help maintain image continuity
to create a virtual canvas. Frame lock is especially critical for stereo
viewing, where the left and right fields must be in sync across all displays.

Swap sync refers to the synchronization of buffer swaps of multiple
application windows. By means of swap sync, applications running on multiple
systems can synchronize the application buffer swaps between all the systems.
In order to work across multiple systems, swap sync requires that the systems
are framelocked.

In short, to enable genlock means to sync to an external signal. To enable
framelock means to sync 2 or more X Screens to a signal generated internally
by the hardware, and to use both means to sync 2 or more X Screens to an
external signal.

SUPPORTED HARDWARE

Framelock and genlock are supported for the following hardware:

    Board
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------
    Quadro FX 3000G
    Quadro FX G-Sync, used in conjunction with a Quadro FX 4400 or Quadro FX
    4500


HARDWARE SETUP

Before you begin, you should check that your hardware has been properly
installed. If you are using the Quadro FX 3000G, the genlock/framelock signal
processing hardware is located on the dual-slot card itself, and after
installing the card, no additional setup is necessary.

If you are using the Quadro FX G-Sync board in conjunction with a graphics
card, the following additional setup steps are required. These steps must be
performed when the system is off.

  1. On the Quadro FX G-Sync board, locate the fourteen-pin connector labeled
     "primary". If the associated ribbon cable is not already joined to this
     connector, do so now.

  2. Install the Quadro FX G-Sync board in any available slot. Note that the
     slot itself is only used for support, so even a known "bad" slot is
     acceptable. The slot must be close enough to the graphics card that the
     ribbon cable can reach.

  3. Connect the other end of the ribbon cable to the fourteen-pin connector
     on the graphics card.

You may now boot the system and begin to setup genlock and/or framelock. These
instructions assume that you have already successfully installed the NVIDIA
Accelerated Linux Driver Set. If you have not done so, please see Chapter 2.

CONFIGURATION WITH NVIDIA-SETTINGS

Framelock and genlock are configured through the nvidia-settings utility.
Please see the 'nvidia-settings(1)' man page, and the nvidia-settings online
help (click the "Help" button in the lower right corner of the interface for
per-page help information).

From the nvidia-settings framelock panel, you may control the addition of X
screens to the framelock/genlock network, monitor the status of that network,
and enable/disable framelock and genlock.

After the system has booted and X Windows has been started, run
nvidia-settings as

    % nvidia-settings

You may wish to start this utility before continuing, as we refer to it
frequently in the subsequent discussion.

The setup of genlock and framelock are described separately. We then describe
the use of genlock and framelock together.

GENLOCK SETUP

After the system has been booted, connect the external signal to the house
sync connector (the BNC connector) on either the graphics card or the G-Sync
card. There is a status LED next to the connector. A solid red LED indicates
that the hardware cannot detect the timing signal, and you should check the
signal source before proceeding. A green LED indicates that the hardware is
detecting a timing signal. An occasional red flash is okay.

In the framelock panel of the nvidia-settings interface, add the X screen that
you would like to sync to this external source by clicking the "Add X Screen"
button. An X Screen is typically specified in the format "system:m.n", e.g.:

    mycomputer.domain.com:0.0

or

    localhost:0.0

Note that in genlock-only mode, the X screen to synchronize must be backed by
the system attached to the external sync source. After adding an X screen, a
row will appear in the table on the framelock panel that displays relevant
status information about the X screen. In particular, the "House" column of
this table contains an LED image whose state mirrors the state of the physical
LED next to the house sync connector. Thus, you may monitor the status of this
signal from the software interface.

If you are using a G-Sync card, you must also click the "Use House Sync"
checkbox. To enable synchronization of this X screen to the external source,
click the "Enable Framelock" button. The screen may take a moment to
stabilize. If it does not stabilize, you may have selected a synchronization
signal that the system cannot support. You should disable synchronization by
clicking the "Disable Framelock" button and check the external sync signal.

Modifications to genlock settings (e.g., "Use House Sync", "Add X Screen")
must be done while synchronization is disabled.

FRAMELOCK SETUP

Framelock is supported across an arbitrary number of Quadro FX 3000 or Quadro
FX G-Sync systems, although mixing the two in the same framelock network is
not supported. Additionally, each system to be included in the framelock
network must be configured with identical mode timings. Please see Appendix J
for information on mode timings.

Connect the systems through their RJ45 ports using standard CAT5 patch cables.
These ports are located on the framelock board itself (either the Quadro FX
3000 or the Quadro FX G-Sync board). DO NOT CONNECT A FRAMELOCK PORT TO AN
ETHERNET CARD OR HUB. DOING SO MAY PERMANENTLY DAMAGE THE HARDWARE The
connections should be made in a daisy-chain fashion: each card has two RJ45
ports, call them 1 and 2. Connect port 1 of system A to port 2 of system B,
connect port 1 of system B to port 2 of system C, etc. Note that you will
always have two empty ports in your framelock network.

The ports self-configure as inputs or outputs once framelock is enabled. Each
port has a yellow and a green LED that reflect this state. A flashing yellow
LED indicates an output and a flashing green LED indicates an input. A solid
green LED indicates that the port has not yet configured.

In the framelock panel of the nvidia-settings interface, add the X screens
that you would like to include in the framelock network by clicking the "Add X
Screen" button (see the description for adding X screens in the previous
section on GENLOCK SETUP. Like he genlock status indicators, the "Port0" and
"Port1" columns in the table on the framelock panel contain indicators whose
states mirror the states of the physical LEDs on the RJ45 ports. Thus, you may
monitor the status of these ports from the software interface.

Any X screen can be added to the framelock network, provided that

  1. The system supporting the X Screen is configured to support framelock and
     is connected via RJ45 cable to the other systems in the framelock
     network.

  2. The system driving nvidia-settings can locate and has display privileges
     on the X screen that is to be included for framelock.

A system can gain display privileges on a remote system by executing

    % xhost +

on the remote system. Please see the xhost(1) man page for details. Typically,
framelock is controlled through one of the systems that will be included in
the framelock network. While this is not a requirement, note that
nvidia-settings will only display the framelock panel when running on an X
screen that supports framelock.

To enable synchronization on these X screens, click the "Enable Framelock"
button. The screens may take a moment to stabilize. If they do not stabilize,
you may have selected a mode timing that one or more of the systems cannot
support. In this case you should disable synchronization by clicking the
"Disable Framelock" button and refer to Appendix J for information on mode
timings.

Modifications to framelock settings (e.g. "Add/Remove X Screen") must be done
while synchronization is disabled.

FRAMELOCK + GENLOCK

The use of framelock and genlock together is a simple extension of the above
instructions for using them separately. You should first follow the
instructions for Framelock Setup, and then to one of the systems that will be
included in the framelock network, attach an external sync source. In order to
sync the framelock network to this single external source, you must select the
X Screen connected to the external source to be the signal master for the
network. This is done by selecting the radio button in the "Master" column of
the table on the framelock panel in nvidia-settings. If you are using a G-Sync
based framelock network, you must also select the "Use House Sync" checkbox.
Enable synchronization by clicking the "Enable Framelock" button. As with
other framelock/genlock controls, you must select the signal master while
synchronization is disabled.

LEVERAGING FRAMELOCK/GENLOCK IN OPENGL

With the GLX_NV_swap_group extension, OpenGL applications can be implemented
to join a group of applications within a system for local swap sync, and bind
the group to a barrier for swap sync across a framelock network. A universal
framecounter is also provided to promote synchronization across applications.

______________________________________________________________________________

Appendix Y. Dots Per Inch
______________________________________________________________________________

DPI (Dots Per Inch), also known as PPI (Pixels Per Inch), is a property of an
X screen that describes the physical size of pixels. Some X applications, such
as xterm, can use the DPI of an X screen to determine how large (in pixels) to
draw an object in order for that object to be displayed at the desired
physical size on the display device.

You can query the DPI of your X screen by running:


    % xdpyinfo | grep -B1 dot


which should generate output like this:


    dimensions:    1280x1024 pixels (382x302 millimeters)
    resolution:    85x86 dots per inch



The NVIDIA X driver performs several steps to determine the DPI of each X
screen:


   o If the display device provides an EDID, and the EDID contains information
     about the physical size of the display device, that is used to compute
     the DPI. If multiple display devices are used by this X screen, then the
     NVIDIA X screen will choose which display device to use. This can be
     overriden this with the "UseEdidDpi" X configuration option: you can
     specify a particular display device to use; e.g.:
     
         Option "UseEdidDpi" "DFP-1"
     
     or disable EDID-computed DPI by setting this option to false:
     
         Option "UseEdidDpi" "FALSE"
     
     EDID-based DPI computation is enabled by default when an EDID is
     available.

   o If the "-dpi" commandline option to the X server is specified, that is
     used to set the DPI (see `X -h` for details). This will override the
     "UseEdidDpi" option.

   o If the "DPI" X configuration option is specified (see Appendix D for
     details), that will be used to set the DPI. This will override the
     "UseEdidDpi" option.

   o If none of the above are available, then the "DisplaySize" X config file
     Monitor section information will be used to determine the DPI, if
     provided; see the xorg.conf or XF86Config man pages for details.

   o If none of the above is available, the DPI defaults to 75x75.


You can find how the NVIDIA X driver determined the DPI by looking in your X
log file. There will be a line that looks something like the following:

    (--) NVIDIA(0): DPI set to (101, 101); computed from "UseEdidDpi" X config
option


Note that the physical size of the X screen, as reported through `xdpyinfo` is
computed based on the DPI and the size of the X screen in pixels.

The DPI of an X screen can be confusing when TwinView is enabled: with
TwinView, multiple display devices (possibly with different DPIs) display
portions of the same X screen, yet DPI can only be advertised from the X
server to the X application with X screen granularity. Solutions for this
include:


   o Use separate X screens, rather than TwinView; see Appendix P for details.

   o Experiment with different DPI settings to find a DPI that is suitable for
     both display devices.


